Life Full of Metal
by Lightning-in-the-dark
Summary: I felt like I had lost everything apart from my brother when my parents died, so when I was forced to move to the Air Force base where Jack was stationed, I didn't expect to see much. An explosion was pushing it, but big ass robots?...Wow...
1. The Missing Pieces

**LITD: Hello readers! I'm back with a new fic that I will hopefully finish. At first this wasn't going to be posted, but I'll keep it up and continue if you guys want me to. I only keep it up if I get enough support, but I guess that's all up to you guys.**

**Anywho, enough of me. This first chapter basically sums up the relationship between the OCs so nothing much happens though it is a bit depressing, it just starts things off.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers…how sad…**

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**The** **Missing** **Pieces**

Numb, that's how I felt. As though someone had dipped my body into some anesthetic and placed back to fulfill my role in the world.

Staring out of the window on the passenger's side of the black truck was the only thing I could do while memories of the horrid event flashed before me as if it was a movie.

But no. This was real, _too_ real. As a matter of fact, I was finding it hard to even believe.

The vehicle jumped, thrusting me from my thoughts, but never from the truth…

My parents are dead and there was nothing I could have done to change that.

The rest of the journey remained the same. Absolute silence unless you included the jarring motion of the truck's suspension and the purring of its engine. The recently promoted Major William Lennox kept his eyes focused on the road as he drove us back from the airport, the only words he spoke were kind as he helped me carry my luggage back to the vehicle. Although I didn't reply I knew he meant well, it's just…I wasn't exactly in the talkative mood.

My brother had sent Will instead of himself to pick me up. It was understandable. Just like myself, he would be mentally unstable and so he would send a close friend to take his place.

It was a little disheartening that he couldn't attend the funeral, but he wasn't even in the country when the accident happened. He was having a hard time trying to get the approval to come home so Jack thought that it would be in everyone's best interests if the funeral was done without him. Of course, as luck would have it, he got the approval _the day after_ the funeral…but then again, Lady Luck hates my brother. No, scratch that. _All_ females, no matter the species, hate him…

Obviously apart from me, but that's because we're bound by blood…unfortunately for him. He's the _mature one_ though, through my eyes, I find that extremely hard to believe. Its mutual I guess. (A/N – Am I the only one who has this problem with a sibling(s)?)

As we pulled up to the residential part of Diego Garcia, which was located at the back of the base, I could feel my heart sink lower. I had already expressed my extreme depression out to the world, crying and screaming until my voice went hoarse and I ran out of tears, but now when I see Jack again everything will come flooding back to me, I just _know_ it.

He was all I had left.

Already tears reached the brim of my eyes, slightly obscuring my vision of Jack's apartment that stood in front of me. It was my new home due to the fact that he was the closest relative that could take care of me since I was still only sixteen.

"This is it." Will announced softly as he drifted the car to a complete stop, parking right outside the front door. I only just realized then that it was raining…how fitting. For some reason I felt comforted by it as it made seem like the heavens were mourning with us.

For the first few moments I just sat and stared at the building that would be my new home as Will was generous enough to carry my suitcase up to the door and rang the doorbell. No too much time passed when Jack finally revealed himself, giving me a brief glance before receiving my stuff off of the Major. Once my brother took my stuff indoors, Will came back to the truck and opened my door.

Silently I got out and grabbed my backpack, grunting once I remembered the weight of it since it did contain my laptop and drawing kit.

"Rachel." The Major caught my shoulders and halted me before I could get passed him. "Look at me. Everything will be alright."

Slowly my gaze lifted to meet his own, the tears were flowing freely now along with stray strands of rain that dropped around us.

"How can you say that?" I said as a broken whisper that resulted in a tight hug, his warmth was greatly appreciated at this time.

"Just trust me." He replied and said nothing more as I sobbed in his embrace. It didn't take us too long to realize that it wasn't just my tears that were soaking him so, with a protective arm around my shoulder, Will Lennox led me into the apartment and out of the rain.

He didn't stay too long, once he and Jack quietly spoke in the kitchen while I was sitting on the sofa, staring at the floor in the living room, Will strolled back in with my brother in tow. The goodbyes didn't take long as he had at lot of work to catch up with since his promotion.

We heard the slam of the truck door and loud, distinct whir of the engine before it eventually faded into the rainstorm and for a few minutes I sat slumped on the sofa unwilling to move until I felt something sink into the other side, making me fall slightly to the right.

I turned to Jack who was staring back at me. "You look like shit." I said half-heartedly though it was still the truth. His hazel hair, both head and facial, was left unmanaged while he looked like he hadn't slept in the last month.

"The same could be said about you." Was his reply though he said it in a really low tone which wasn't like him at all. Then again this hasn't really been a _normal_ reunion, has it?

I don't now what did it, but all of a sudden I broke down, throwing myself into his hold like my life depended on it.

Hell, my life _did_ depend on it. Jack was last thing in my life I could call _family_, if he left me, I would break completely. Now, I'm not the emo type, but I just wouldn't be myself anymore. My brother was like my other half when we were younger. He would always help me out no matter the situation and then when he was about to leave to join the Air Force he had said that our brother-sister relationship was 'unnatural' because we loved each other and rarely fought over anything. Sure, we would shout over the most stupid things, but our feud wouldn't last long.

As I cried into his shoulder I could feel Jack's hand rub my back which was comforting me in this time of need. Though above me I could feel his tears drip gently onto my dark brown hair, which had been left untamed since my parents' deaths just over a week ago.

_My parents' death._ _My parents were_ _**dead**_.

That made me cry even harder and I gripped on his shirt as the sobs ripped through me just like the pain in my chest. I felt like I had lost a part of me after the officers told me what had happened.

Now I have to live with that replaying in my head for the rest of my life.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Lennox jogged up to the driver's side of the black truck, but not before stealing one last quick glance at the block of apartments, mainly the top floor which now housed the two, last members of the Hunter family.

God that sounded so…so _wrong_.

A long, tired sigh escaped the Major as he slumped into the driver's seat of the Topkick and closed his eyes, letting the gentle patters of the rain on the truck's roof almost lull him to sleep. Unfortunately his silent tranquility was disturbed as the radio came to life…by itself.

"Are they going to be alright?" Came the rough voice of one of Will's metal comrades in arms.

Sighing again, the Major rubbed some of the sleepiness that had invaded his eyes. "I'm not sure 'Hide. Losing a family member is something that's hard to get through, but Hunter lost _both_ his parents and knowing that they were really close makes it a whole lot worse." He paused for a moment. "He's getting a week off, but he'll be back on normal shifts after that."

"I think we can all relate to his situation in some shape or form since we are at war. Back on Cybertron it was common to lose someone close to you and even more common to lose yourself, either to insanity or, though I hate to admit it, to a blast from the Decepticons mainly due to they shear amount of numbers."

"Oh, so _now_ you tell me that we're severely outnumbered."

A low laugh softly rocked the vehicle just as the engine switched itself on before slowly pulling away from the block of apartments. "Yeah, but that just means that there's more to shoot at, but now that we have you pipsqueaks helping us I think we should do just fine."  
"Yeah, well, bare in mind those _pipsqueaks_ are a lot smaller and more fragile than you guys."

"I know and that is why I feel sorry for you. How can you stand being that _small_?"

Lennox just shrugged at the question. "Eh, you get used to it."

"I'm sure you do."

"Hey man, I'm tall for my build and age. Don't spoil the moment."

"You just keep telling yourself that Major, it'll only make things worse when you finally admit that you're species is so small."  
The Major glared at the radio for a few second. "Now I'm gonna start sounding like Jazz. You guys give him too much of a hard time because he's small in your standards." A small chuckle escaped his lips. "Though I have to admit the guy's got a big personality to go with it."

"Rachet did a good job putting him back together."

"Yep, I know and we are lucky to have someone like him. But I have noticed that ever since the Twins got here, Rachet's been a bit on edge. Care to tell me why?"

Ironhide let out a quiet laugh, "Jazz and Sideswipe left container of oil above his door the other day and…well, I believe you can tell what happened next. Even Optimus got a laugh out of it"

Ironhide mulled over the memory file for a moment as they drove passed one of the checkpoints that led them into the main hanger of the base. "So that's why they were wielded together. I don't think anyone's gonna let them live that down for a _very_ long time."

There laughing could be heard for quite a while after that.

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LITD: Well guys, what did you think? Good? Bad? Don't care? Oh well, I don't know how long it will take me to update (that's if I get enough encouragement) because school, well, sucks as usual, but hopefully I'll find the time the do the next chapter soon.

**If any of you have problems please don't hesitate to press the pretty button below, it will helps us all in the future :P **


	2. Out and About

**LITD: Well, what can I say? Wow. I didn't think I would get two reviews let alone **_**six**_**. Big thanks go to ****Bella-eclipse****, ****laureas****, ****Dragonrider2203,****prydainwonder, GaiatheHedgehog**** and ****someonewayoverhyper**** for being the first people to send me feedback on this fic. It is greatly appreciated and I hope to hear, not only from you guys again, but from any other reader who wishes to ask, complain or just talk to me because just like I said last time, motivation is needed at the moment since homework is beginning to pile up and take over my life no matter how much of it I take care of :(**

**Also I just have to say YAY simply because it has been confirmed that Transformers 3 is coming out on 1****st**** July 2011, not 2012. Thank God because I don't think that I would have been able to wait an extra year for it to come out. If you don't believe me then you can read it on Michael Bay's blog or you can look it up on Wikipedia.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Pac-man or Linkin Park (you'll see why later) **

_**Important Note: **__**Just before I forget to mention, since I didn't in the first chapter, this fic is set about a couple of months after the 07' movie just incase people get a tad confused about the time setting of this fic. This also means that who ever was in ROTF and appears in this fic will be in their G1 appearance unless I decide that their ROTF appearance was cool then I might keep them that way.**_

**Now on with the chapter!**

_Thoughts  
_'_Comlink'_

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Out and About

_I never thought watching a movie, eating a tub of my favorite ice cream while curled up on the sofa in my pajamas (which I had affectionately called pjs since I was about two years old) could be so boring. I guess I could blame my parents since they were currently away on a weekend vacation for their anniversary and just because I was sixteen, they thought that it would be okay to leave me behind. Unfortunately because of past incidents that I swear wasn't my fault (I can feel the little horns growing on my head) and to the fact that I am the little annoying brat of the family (according to Jack anyway, the fricking hypocrite) no one else could stay with me._

_Which, as you can tell, sucked._

_With a discontented sigh, I glanced at the clock that sat on the wall to the left of the TV. 7:13pm it showed…That was weird. Mom said they would be back around five. I shrugged the lateness off and decided to pin the blame on traffic, but what I did find even more strange was that I hadn't received a call from them explaining that they were going to be late._

_Hmmm…_

_Since the strawberry ice cream was beginning to melt in the tub I took it into the kitchen and discarded the tub in the freezer. However, instead of going back to watch the rest Bad Boys 2, the doorbell stole my attention away from the TV and pulled it to the front door. I never bothered turning off the movie since I would be going back to it anyway._

_Or so I thought._

_I opened the door to find two police officers standing on the porch, both looked at me with grim expressions as if…as if something __**bad**__ had happened._

"_Are you Rachel Alexandra Hunter?" One of the officers asked. When I nodded he turned to who I assumed to be his partner as if he, not as if he couldn't, but more as if he didn't want to say why they were here._

_Unfortunately their solemn expressions already confirmed my suspicions._

_The lateness. No phone call. Police officers turning up instead of my parents._

_I already knew what had happened, despite my best efforts to convince myself it was all a really bad dream. Unfortunately the shock of the news and the hard rhythm against my chest told that this was real._

_Almost immediately tears were blurring my vision as I leaned onto the door, my knees turning into jello as the shock began to settle in. I shook my head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening to me. "…No." Was all I could say, even though it came out as a whimper._

_Why me? Why my parents, of all the people in the world, why did it have to be them?!_

"_I'm sorry…" the other officer started to explain what had happened although I was only fixated on the one fact that I was never going to see my Mom or Dad alive ever again…_

I awoke with a startled gasp and found that my heart was pounding hard against my chest. It was that same dream. Why the hell won't it just leave me alone?! In the last six days since I arrived at the civilian side of Edwards Air Force Base, California I've had that same dream about that night when I was told that my parents were killed in a freak car accident.

It was weird to think a single visit from someone could be so life changing.

I guess the only consolation was that they died instantly so they weren't in any pain when it happened…

It had taken me about a minute to calm myself, but I also noticed the sweat tickling the back of my neck and face which I quickly got rid of once it began to irritate me.

The light was pouring through the blinds that were meant to cover the window, so it looked like I forgot to close them again. Tends to happen when you become a lazy/normal teenager. With a tired groan shortly followed by a yawn I staggered across my bedroom, which by now was a bombsite...I should really put up a warning sign or something just incase Jack needed to come in for some reason. I don't want the dipstick breaking his leg after tripping over something…

Meh, I'll tidy it later.

I decided to put on something plain today, just a black tank top and jean shorts since the UV rays were at full strength today. Then something dawned on me. Jack was back on duty tomorrow. Ha, I still have a whole month of summer left. Booyah!

Anyway, I decided that when I could barely walk straight to the door that I was caffeine deprived so it was straight to the coffee machine for me.

"Coooffffeeeeeee." Moaned tired little ol' me. Who wouldn't be at nine in the _fricking morning_? And it was a Sunday too.

Once I was finally basking in the coffee filled heaven I heard something trudging through the front door and I watched from behind the cup as Jack walked in huffing and red as a tomato. He looked like he had just run the equivalent of a marathon…wouldn't surprise me if he actually did. Boys and their fitness…although apart from chocolate and sweet cars, it does give a girl something to drool at. _Ahhhhh, six pack._

A pillow came sailing my way after I sniggered into the cup, only just missing me by an inch. "Hey! Coffee in hand, Jay." I stuck my tongue out at the puffing man to show that I was annoyed at him for nearly making me spill my coffee down my front, which would not only mean I would have to make another cup, it would also _hurt_. Done it before and now I try to be very careful not to do it again.

"Hey Rach?" Jack backpedaled a few steps so that he was visible and not down the hall where he would be concealed by the walls. "I'm taking you out to meet some of the team today. They've wanted to see you since they heard you were coming to stay so at least when I'm on duty you will have some people to talk to." And then he was gone, not wanting to know if I had refused or not although I did hear him mutter 'please God, have mercy on their souls'.

I just shrugged and slurped another mouthful of caffeine. _Eh, why not?_

Did I forget to tell you that my brother takes _forever_ to get ready for anything? Well, he took so long that I had fallen asleep on the sofa, curled up into a cozy ball by the time he was ready. Of course he would have to have a good plan on how to persuade me to get up…though, unfortunately for me, it involved a cup…and _very cold_ _water_!

My eyes shot open at the sudden rush of coldness on my face, but I lay frozen for a few moments in shock before the realization finally sunk in.

_That bastard just soaked me!_

I practically leapt from my warm, now wet, spot and screamed at my _loving sibling_. "Jack! You are _so dead! _That attack was unprovoked!" And this then leads us to the inevitable chase scene.

"How else was I suppose to wake you up?! Sit on you?!" He shouted back though what made me even more furious was that he was still laughing between words and struggling to breathe properly as he ran.

I just noticed that we had entered into the kitchen, but fortunately for him the table was all that separated me from tearing his throat out.

My face scrunched up at the thought of having his butt in my face…_ewwwww._ "Why would I want your smelly ass in my face? You're the one that always stinks out the bathroom." But then I smirked and played my trump card. "How will you ever get girlfriend if you can barely keep me alive in the same house when you're always _gassing me to death_?" I don't know why, but Jack always seemed touchy when on the subject of girls. _Hmmm, note to self, pick at the subject later in life…I'll never remember_.

Oh well, it was his fault for waking me up in such an unfriendly manner so to protect me from his deadly glare for bringing up the subject (I swear I could hear necks snapping somewhere in the distance…I must protect myself!) I turned and grabbed the closest thing that could be used as a projectile…which just happened to be a bag of flour.

_Eviiiiiil._

"_En guard_!" I exclaimed before my weapon was thrown from my hand. Jack, being the dimwitted guy that he is, did not duck, but raised his hands to protect his face instead…

I guess you can tell what happened next.

With an audible _puff_ the bag practically exploded when it came into contact with his skin, creating a small, white cloud that consumed Jack's top half completely for a couple of seconds before it slowly dropped and faded away. What it left behind made me almost crap myself where I laughed so hard to the point where my stomach hurt and tears were streaming down my face. Jack's body was as white as a ghost…fricking _lol_ and not only was his new image hilarious, but his expression was quite funny to look at too. As expected he was shocked at my method of retaliation (I have to admit I did go just a _tad_ too far, but when you think about it, this is sibling rivalry so something like this was bound to happen sooner or later) his arms were still frozen in place, hovering in front of his body to try and protect (_fail!)_ his face. That is until he got over the unexpected messy projectile.

Slowly his arms were lowered, fully revealing his facial features. What really unnerved me was that Jack seemed unusually calm considering we were meant to out the door to meet a few of his friends.

Unfortunately I knew what was coming next. Call it a sister's instinct…or common sense.

"Rachel," He sang as he picked up the near-empty bag of flour from the floor before turning back to me with a crazy smirk. My brother was about to retaliate…

Uh oh.

I took a quivering step back as Jack advanced towards me in a threatening manner, his newly received weapon held out in front of him, ready to use. "I, erm, uh, heh." Oh screw this! "Run away!" and run I did. Obviously Jack expected my retreat as soon as he obtained the flour from the ground and was hot on my tail instantly. However, my get away didn't last long thanks to the table that sat in front of the sofa in the living room. As I tried to pass it my knee clipped the edge of its wood and with a squeal I spun out of control before crashing onto the carpet. Jack, instead of being the kind and caring brother, took full advantage of my vulnerability and pounced on me before I could get up and dash to a safe distance. While I was pinned underneath his bodyweight, the bag was tipped upside down and the rest of its contents was emptied onto me.

The result being…lets just say it ended up being that we both needed a shower afterwards and that the living room floor was in need of a _very_ large amount of elbow grease

It took us an hour to finally get out the door and that was after we cleaned ourselves (We had to throw our clothes into the washing pile so I put on a different pair of jean shorts on. Thankfully my blue converse were spared and my tank top was changed to a teal t-shirt that had Pac-man on it. Jack had put on a Hawaiian shirt, which I laughed at, but not too much since I didn't want a repeat of what just occurred, and a pair of navy shorts.) Once the unfortunate victim called the carpet was scrubbed down we finally proceeded down the street towards the main hanger. Jack insisted that we walked because he said I needed to get out and do more, so just to spite him I brought my Ipod with me and listened to Linkin Park for the first few minutes. Though for some reason I started to wonder about this place and that led to questions forming in my head.

_Well, its now or never since you'll probably forget to ask later_.

"Hey Jack?"

"Hmmm."

"Why were you kept here after what happened in LA? I mean, weren't you originally stationed in Vandenberg like it said in the letters you sent home?" My questions seemed to catch him of guard slightly as he froze for a split second before he continued walking down the path.

Jack was quiet at first as if he was thinking about how to word his explanation. Then he finally spoke. "You know that it was terrorists that attacked Mission City, right?" I nodded. "Well, I was reassigned here with the rest of the squadron so that we could help out around the place and/or just incase Mission City or anywhere else in California gets targeted again. Now we're the closest squadron that can give air support our superiors thought that it might be a good idea to keep us here." The way that he gazed at the ground made me think that he was keeping something from me, but I decided to keep my suspicions to myself because he was a wreck after the attack. Jack had lost several wingmates after the terrorists began to retaliate and even his own F-22 was damaged when something grazed his wing.

A shiver went down my spine when realization hit me like a train. I could have lost Jack that day then I would have been alone and-_No! Bad Rachel! Pessimism is not needed or wanted right now! Get a grip woman!_

My mouth opened again as I was about ask another question, but unfortunately the screeching of tires on the road beat me to it. We both turned towards the noise at the exact same time only to watch a red _Lamborghini __Murciélago_ proceeded to skid to a stop right beside us. (A/N – Guess who :P)

I think I was catching flies in my mouth by the time it was next to us. _A Lambo on an air force base…yum._

"Hey Hunter!" The car's occupant greeted without getting out.

Now I know it's rude, but the very first thing I did was point and stare at the shiny, gorgeous car as if it was a large bar of gold. In other words, it was a really unexpected appearance to me. Really cool cars don't just show up and stop in front of you and company. And to top it all off, the driver was _hot_. Dark brown hair that flowed down to his shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. _I think I'm in love…_Hot guy with hot car equals _chick magnet!_

"Do you know this guy?" I exclaimed to Jack who was just standing there with a smug grin plastered on his face.

While his friend (until I get his name he is called _Hotness_ from now on) was getting out of the car, my brother answered. "Yeah, he's a new arrival that came in last month. His, ah, nickname is Sideswipe or Sides for short." _Damn! I wanted to call him Hotness…weird name for a guy though. I wonder…_

Just as Jack finished _Sideswipe_ was standing beside him with his arms crossed over his chest. Next to my brother he was about the same size, maybe about six foot two. Either way he was a lot taller than I am. "So this is your _little _sister." He hung onto the 'little' as if he knew that it would annoy me.

Taking the bait I sent him a glare and matched his crossed arm pose. "Vertically challenged, get it right." I deadpanned and stuck out my touch like a four year old.

"That's what they all say."

Before I could even inhale to say a snippy remark, Jack stepped in as if to sense an argument was about to breakout. I didn't want to give a bad first impression, but the guy just _dissed_ my height. So what if I'm only five foot two…wait…okay, yeah I'm small. _Damn! _"So," _Great way to stop a possible all-hell-about-to-break-loose argument Jack, typical_. "Why are you here Sides? We were just coming."

"You do realize that you were meant to meet up with us over an hour ago." Sideswipe gave my brother a skeptical look as he stated our lateness. I was tempted to say '_Didn't you hear? We Hunters are the best at being the worst when it comes down to timekeeping_' but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Angry strangers are not good to work with. "The others were becoming impatient."

"Yep, sounds like them. I take it that you came to give us a ride?" Once he got a nodded to answer my brother's question, we were packed into the back of the red Lamborghini, _yum_, and we were off to find the 'team' that were hopefully not too mad about our lateness. Well I could just blame it on Jack since everyone believes the little girl (most of the time) unless he's been telling lies (which are probably true, but I'll deny them anyway) then I'll have to put on the cute, helpless girl act.

It better work, but if it doesn't then…well, I'll make up an escape route if it's needed.

Now, off to the lion's den! Wish me luck!

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'_The signal dampener seems to be working. The Autobots haven't responded to either myself or Frenzy's presence at all.'_

'_Excellent! Now that Soundwave has announced his arrival we can begin phase two soon. Barricade, until he shows up keep an optic on the humans and the Autoscum just incase they become suspicious of our actions. I don't want them snooping around if they catch wind of our operations.'_

'_Not to worry Starscream. Things will go our way.'_

'_And until Soundwave arrives, for the love of Primus, keep Frenzy under control. I don't want him losing his head again because we actually need him fully functional... Also I don't want to give Soundwave a reason to shoot our afts off.'_

Barricade let out a light chuckle_. 'You mean __**your**__ aft. You are meant to the one in charge until we get Lord Megatron back online so I can just blame it on you.'_

TheSeeker growled, not amused by his comrades intentions if that was the case_. 'Just make sure you keep the little slagger in line, Starscream out.' _And with an audible click everything went silent. Barricade was left to ponder on what to do while waiting for Soundwave to announce his arrival. In the mean time, Frenzy recharged peacefully on his leather passenger seat, unaware that his creator was on his way to join them. The Saleen wanted to recharge like his small partner, but after the last few confrontations with the Autobots seemed to put him on edge slightly. Thankfully now that the Communications Officer was on his way, Barricade could finally relax in the lonely alley of Mission City, recently rebuilt after the battle that took place here not too long ago.

The only thing that let the 'Con know he wasn't the only one awake was the constant revving and the horns of the other passing vehicles in the background, something that made him despise the planet more.

Silently, he prayed to Primus that Soundwave would hurry up and preferably before his processor went haywire.

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LITD: Ohhhhhhh, semi-cliffy. Decepticons are finally in the picture, though they won't be fully involved until later. Well I don't think there's much else to say apart from ask if there was anything wrong with the chapter.

**Press the pretty button please. :)**


	3. Meeting the Folks

**LITD:…Well, this isn't good at all. I know I've been late before, but **_**damn**_**! I'm so sorry guys, but school's been…normal (i.e. crap), I've recently started a new job so I'm now busy during the weekends (nooooooooo!) and accompanied with a writer's block then can you blame me? To be honest, I'm not really happy with this chapter, even though things start to heat up a tad, but hopefully it's not too bad. That's up to you guys. **

**Big thanks go to arliabreaker, Saphireblu987, starfire daurghter of Ironhide, laureas and Dragonrider2203 for reviewing the last chapter. You're thoughts and criticism has and will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys for keeping me right! ;)**

**Now to start the engines! Lol!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, it makes me feel hollow inside :(**

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Meeting the Folks

Being nervous was a bit of an understatement after Jack's description of who were going to be looking after me while he was on duty. First there was Sides' _twin_ brother, Sunny, _Yay! Two Hottnesses!_ who I was told to have the personality of a deranged dog.

Bare in mind, this was my brother's description so I considered his description a bit of an overstatement. Sides' view of his brother was a bit more…_colorful_ in a sense. In other words they were just typical brothers that fought from time to time...i.e. more often than not.

Then there was Jazz. _Lovin' the nicknames by the way_. I snickered quietly to myself as we turned a sharp left causing me to emit a squeak as I tumbled with the momentum it brought. _Stupid boy racers!_

Anyhoo, I was told that he was recently put back on duty, in this case _babysitting duty_, because he was injured in a battle a few months back so he wasn't allowed to fight again until he was given the all-clear. And so he's now stuck with me. For how long was anyone's guess.

After another few _hellish_ corners we finally arrived at the mouth of the hanger. _How the hell did the boy pass his test?!_

…

Payroll, it's got to be. After all he couldn't have got this car without being rich, right?...

Anyway, while I was finally free from the, dare I say it, ruby on wheels, _the damn thing was lickable_…_eww_, Sideswipe went over towards a pair that were standing next to…_more cars made from heaven _(another Lambo except it was yellow and it was sitting next to a Silver Solstice…wow.) a hand slapped firmly onto my shoulder, causing me to yelp with fright.

"Well, time to meet your new family. Jazz is the one with the dreads tied up and the other is _Sunny_." Jack seemed to drag his name as if he seemed…cautious of him and proceeded to force me towards my new..._guardians_. I scrunched my face up at the name I gave the newbies.

However, once my eyes managed to get a good look at my guardians-to-be, I instantly changed my view of them…visually. Jazz was a dark skinned, black haired guy, roughly about five foot nine while Sunny was basically a blond version of Sides. And _damn_ they were hot.

_I'm gonna find it soooo hard not to drool around these guys._ I didn't know whether thank God or curse him.

Although I did do a double-take on Sunny after I noticed the annoyed glare that he was giving me. He seemed to have that 'I'm better than you in every way' posture about him. His broad shoulders gave him a strong look and his blond hair sat perfectly as if each strand of hair had a weight pulling them down. Other than that he resembled Sideswipe in every way…apart from the stare. I hate the evil, 'I will kill you in the night' stares…I think that's when I started to believe the boys' description of him.

It was when I was about a meter away from him and Jazz that I decided that I was going to hate the blond, mainly because he seemed to be the complete opposite of his nickname.

Oh the irony…it made me feel seriously uneasy.

_Just calm down Rach. You're just being prejudice because he's a hot guy and knows it…Hmmm…_

"So," Sunny started and lifted his chin to me and, with no humor in his voice _whatsoever,_ he continued, "this is the brat that we're meant to look after." His cold, icy eyes turned to Jack, ignoring all of the shocked looks he was getting from everyone else, including my peeved glare. "We were trained for war, not to baby-sit." And then he just…left.

What really pissed me off was…_he didn't even say goodbye._

I digress, he's definitely a bastard that I will never get on with.

Watching his tires grind against the concrete, his yellow Lamborghini sped off leaving an unwanted trail of dust in his wake.

"Well, he's _definitely _coming off of the Christmas card list." I sighed tiredly. Getting up too early was taking its toll on me. _Must insert caffeine soooooon._

Screwing up my face, I turned to Sideswipe who was currently rubbing his eyes as he was still processing what had just happened.

He gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry 'bout that. Like I said in the car, Sunny's not exactly a people person."

"Don't worry though, kid. You'll get used to it." Jazz added, patting me on the head as he said it.

My blood boiled at thought of Sunny, just his attitude _ARGH!_ "I despise your brother! He's seems so…vain! And self-centered!"

"He can be like that around those he hasn't met properly." Sideswipe exhaled. "Like Jazz said, you'll get used to it."

"So buckle up, Rach. You're gonna be livin' with him for a while." Jack chirped in the most annoying voice ever while giving me an encouraging smirk…

Unfortunately, that didn't work.

"Frickin' _yay._" I deadpanned in response. "Can I punch him if he gets on my nerves?" _I know it'll be often!_ Until I double took the size of his body. The dude was built like an athlete! "Well, punch him then run." I smiled meekly.

The boys just laughed at my question. How they could put up with the blond potato was anyone's guess. "I don't think running will help. He's pretty fast and I'd be worried 'bout him stepping on you if he caught you." Jazz said.

"He's only six foot two."

"Exactly." Now they were all grinning madly at me as they knew I was stumped, my hot, flushed cheeks were proof of that.

…

"Hey! That was a low blow and _definitely_ no pun intended. Don't dis the height and compared to the others, you ain't exactly the BFG either."

"Still beats being a shorter shorty though." Jazz smirked and folded his arms across his chest. However, even though the guys were all insulting my vertically challenged body, we were all laughing hard a couple of seconds later.

Jack did an alright job getting me Jazz and Sides to look after me while he's gone.

Sunny…well, I'll _deal_ with him later. His life will be a livin' nightmare as soon as he walks through the front door.

Pranks are so useful, aren't they?

* * *

It didn't seem right that Starscream wasn't on edge about the situation as a whole…or furious at Barricade which made the Saleen seem suspicious of the Seeker's true intentions.

Everyone knew, Autobots included, how much of a traitorous slag he could be, but when he announced his departure for Cybertron to 'clean up their mess', this came shortly after the first transmission, Barricade came to the conclusion that the coward's CPU had a glitch or two. In fact it made the Saleen wonder whether he should follow his _new leader's_ orders at all.

He seemed too…calm which wasn't like the Seeker at all.

In end, since it was Soundwave in charge of the Decepticons on Earth, i.e. barely any, Barricade would wait for his verdict on the situation. Until then the Saleen felt the need to celebrate, Decepticon style, since he was rid of Starscream, even if it was only temporary. Of course Frenzy didn't object to the idea since he was just excited about seeing his creator and his, Primus forbid, siblings again.

Barricade was idling in a narrow alley, ready and waiting to unleash his plan. He just needed the right moment then they would strike. Frenzy's excessive chattering nipped at Barricade's CPU, but he let the cassette be for the moment. He would be a hypocrite if he told him to stop being so amused at the idea that they were about to unleash.

Suddenly Frenzy's twittering stopped and it turned into small leaps on the passenger's seat.

"It's time! It's time! Time to kill humans!" He exclaimed, pointing out in front of them as two figures stumbled towards the police car. Right on cue, Frenzy transformed and remained hidden for the moment.

Meanwhile the unsuspecting teenagers, drunk from a party they had just come from, laughed as they neared the vehicle.

"Oh crap!" One of them slurred and tried to back away. "It's a cop. We better go Gary before they nail us."

The one called Gary just clumsily walked forward, squinting at the car's windscreen. "Hey Keith? The vehicle's empty dude." He smiled and pressed his face against the passenger window. If Barricade hadn't wanted the discretion, the kids would have been dead the moment they came within three feet of him. However, after studying their kind he noticed that the younger they are, the more curious they get so he would 'play possum', as the humans called it, for now.

"Awesome! There's a sweet boom box in here." Gary's voice was muffled as he tried to speak with his still pressed against the glass.

In the meantime, Keith seemed to sober up a bit, suspicious as to why there was an empty car that belonged to the _police_ that contained something valuable…and easily stolen. "Dude I think we should go."

"No way man, I want that box. My stupid sister broke mine last week." And Gary turned towards a large pile of garbage that sat a few feet behind them.

While watching, Keith's anxiety rose. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something to smash the window. Why else?"

"Dude. It a _cop_ car. We'd get into so much shit if we got caught." Keith many thought about his mother's reaction if they got caught. He would never be allowed to see the light of day again.

"I don't care. I want it."

Because their voices were escalating, the teens failed to notice the metal panels begin to shift and stand up…until Barricade took one _small_ step. The boys' voices halted and they turned slowly to the source of the thud only to have to strain their neck joints to stare into what seemed like the face of death.

Unfortunately, their tortured screams failed to reach any other pedestrian as it was drowned out by the loud volume of the city.

**

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LITD: Well hmmm, I decided to kill two random guys...Don't know why it just came to me and then it was put in…weird.

**Anyway once again, deepest apologies for the massively long wait. I should be updating around Christmas (YAY! It's so close! XD) If I don't update around then, have a good vacation everyone! Please give a review as a prezzy. Ta! Till next time. **


	4. Unwanted Surprise

**LITD: Hmmm, well I can't really defend myself other than saying that there was a big writer's block that threatened my sanity while writing this. Kill the block, not me pwease? And I do hope that you all had a great Christmas (I did!) and will have an awesome New Year! I can't believe it's been a whole decade since we start the new millennium. **

**Anyway, back to business...to be pretty honest with you all I was a bit upset to see that only two people reviewed the last chapter. Not to sound like a spoiled brat of anything, but you're comments (good ones!) keep me motivated. So thanks go to BluePaintedFreak and precious92 for being the ones to keep me from going insane ^_^ **

**Now, enough of my moaning, on with the show! (Mission Impossible theme starts)......Huh? Just another quick note, there is finally some action in this though it is later in the chapter. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I'm too poor to own big, famous stuff so I don't have the said big, famous stuff. (sniff) Maybe in the future... **

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Unwanted surprise

Well, the next week I have to say wasn't too shabby even though Jack was called in for duty about two days ago. Something about intruders causing trouble in Rome…why he had to go all the way out there isn't something I can explain unless told about by someone else.

Anyway, back to present times.

With Jack traveling across the Atlantic ocean and Sides, Sunny and Jazz gone AWOL (Sides said that him and Jazz had to go and see their boss about something that wasn't to be mentioned and Sunny…well, I haven't seen him since the time I branded him an asshole) I was left alone in the apartment to do as I please. Unfortunately for me, that didn't give me very many options. Jack didn't have any decent channels, let alone movies and without any internet connection to be found, I was extremely limited to what I could do to pass the time.

I could do more planning against the wanna-be mustard man. I started to call Sunstreaker that since his car, despite the fact that it was amazingly cool, was yellow…and it reminded me of a yellow mustard jar which I hate more than anything in the world. So yeah, you can now see where I got the connection from.

Although it took me a while to decide, I started to bake cakes because I wanted something sweet and Jack didn't have anything anywhere, no matter how hard I looked. Also I couldn't be bothered going to a store to get candy. _Lazzzzzzy_!

My brain has betrayed me…again. At least it gave me enough control over my body to put the eggs in the bowl and not onto the floor. It has had enough abuse already.

However, instead of starting to mix the ingredients, I froze instantly after I heard something loud and very, very close to the point where the room shook once the shockwave hit the apartment. Nothing was damaged, but I was frozen to the spot.

Slowly, after what felt like hours, my body turned to the window that faced the, what I assumed to be, an explosion. Unfortunately for my sanity, my assumption was correct. An extremely tall, fat mushroom cloud, that was scarred by the distinct orange and whites of the flames at the bottom and at different parts of the smoke, rose high above Diego Garcia, blocking out the sun as it's altitude increased.

Almost instantly my breath was caught in my throat. This couldn't be happening. Not again.

Just as the haunting memories came flooding back to me I ran for the nearest place that I deemed the safest place to hide. Those memories that threatened my sanity, if any, were of when the lives of my grandparents were taken by an explosion, which nearly killed me in the process.

* * *

**10 minutes earlier…**

_(With Sideswipe)_

The meeting with Optimus was one of the longest, most boring meetings he had ever been to. Though there was the small mention of Sunstreaker's update, he blatantly refused to look after their charge for the simple reason that "she's useless to them" though he obviously didn't see the fact that the human was too young to help them. But no matter how hard they tried, he wouldn't give in to reasoning and demanded that he would be reassigned. The funny side of the story was that Sunny's new duty was to keep an optic on the perimeter around the base.

Anyway, the whole meeting was about checking up with how everyone was doing at the base. It was obvious that Optimus would be frustrated with Sunstreaker's arrogance, but he still let the yellow twin do different duties instead so that there was no conflict while the Prime was away. It wasn't that he didn't trust in his First Lieutenant's abilities. It was because Rachet believed that Jazz wasn't ready for combat just yet, hence the reason he was left in charge while most of the others went to Rome.

Thankfully, once the checkup was finished, Sideswipe was free for the moment now all he had to do was return with Jazz to the Hunter household.

All he had to do now was find the slagger. Why must he always go off without telling any-

_Shump_!

Sides didn't even have to look up to see what, or who, made that noise. The comm. lines were opened to everyone on the base just as the intruder from above let out a laugh of delight as he hovered. _**"Not to alarm everyone here, but how in the name Primus did Skywarp, of all mechs, find our base without us seeing him first?!"**_

"_**Sideswipe, do not attack him until backup arrives. I'll be there ASAP**_." Jazz responded, sounding more mature than usual. Usually it was in combat that you would only see his more serious side.

"_**I'm comin' bro**_" Sunny added sharply to the conversation before quickly going quiet.

"Well, well. What do we have here? The Autoscums are cowering behind the fleshies walls. Typical." The Seeker vented out a sigh of disappointment, but it quickly faded into an evil smirk, filled of excitement, which wasn't good for those within a certain radius…and it didn't matter what side you were on, you were still in danger even if you were a Decepticon. "Oh well, more for me to kill."

Just as the black and purple Seeker was set to fire upon the buildings below his hovering form, a clear and familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

And Skywarp thought he had gotten away from the twins antics.

"JET JUDO!" While he hadn't been looking, Sunstreaker had arrived to help out and had joined his twin in performing their signature move by using the nearby air traffic control tower to give them some height. Unfortunately, after many times of the move actually hitting its mark, Skywarp's reaction had become instinctive. Nanoseconds before the twins had landed their hit, the Seeker managed to teleport away to safety, leaving his attackers to fall and, being the sly, opportunistic fragger that his is, Skywarp shot at the Autobots as they fell. That didn't go without retaliation though, but without the steadiness or the movement that the Seeker had, none of their shots hit their target as the said target dodged too quickly.

Both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were hit in quick succession, their metal frames thrown towards the ground hard although they ended up in different places. Sideswipe landed in the middle of the nearest runway while Sunstreaker ended up creating a large, smoldering hole in one of the hangers sitting next to the said runway.

Since both of the twins were down for the moment, Skywarp went back to doing what he was suppose to be doing. Leveling Diego Garcia. Though he was given a specific weapon to do his job. Once the Seeker had removed the weapon from his subspace he stared at it for a moment. All he knew was that it was a bomb that could do a lot of damage, but since Soundwave's voice could send you into recharge, Skywarp didn't pay much attention to the details of what the bomb's potential was.

"Enjoy you're new gift from the soon-to-be winners of the war, Autobots." Skywarp hissed aloud and just as he was about to let it drop-

_Ptwang_!

"AH! You fragger!" He yelped, letting the bomb fall from his grasp in the process. Swiftly, he turned to who had shot him in the shoulder from behind and continued to do so. It was the Autobot's First Lieutenant, Jazz. 'But I thought he was a goner.' However, his thoughts quickly changed to what was happening below him and his optics widened as he looked down. The bomb had almost hit the ground.

Turning back to Jazz, who was staring in horror at the weapon as it gained speed, he smirked. "See ya in the Matrix, Autoscum!" And with the quick speech, he was gone, teleporting himself away to safety.

In the meantime, Jazz was reacting. His small size helped him gain the speed he needed in order to get to the bomb before it finally hit the ground and destroyed everything that was unfortunate enough to be within the blast's radius. With the maximum output that his legs would allow, Jazz leaped the rest of the way when he felt as if he was close enough. And just as the weapon was about to brush against the air traffic control tower that the twins had used for the extra height, it fell in the Lieutenant's hands...

_Beep...Beep...Beep._

Once Jazz had landed his optics widened when they landed on the timer. Not only because it was active, but also because he had only 13 seconds to dispose of it before it vaporized him, the twins and anything else that was too close.

_I was offlined once. I refuse to let that happen again!_

It took Jazz 2.3 seconds to realise how he could save the base and it's occupants. As fast as he could, the silver autobot dashed towards the sea and opened a comm. link to the twins as he went.

**_10 _**

**_"Sunny? Sides?" _**

**_9 _**

_**"Y-yeah? W-we're here J-Jazz."**_ Came the static laden reply from Sides.

**_8 _**

**_"I swear to Primus when I get my hands on that slaggin' Seeker, I'm gonna tear his wings off and thrust them down his intakes!" _**Sunny added in fury as he scanned over his, once perfect but now charred, paintjob.

**_7 _**

**_"And he ruined my paintjob...again!" _**

**_6 _**

_**"You guys need to run towards the main hanger, now!"**_ Jazz said urgantly as he just skidded to a halt at the shore of the beach.

**_5 _**

**_"What?!" _**

**_"Why?!" _**

**_4 _**

**_"Just go before you become cosmic dust!" _**

**_3 _**

Jazz threw the bomb as far out into the ocean as he could and without even glancing at how far it had actually gone, he ran back in the direction he had just come from as fast as his systems would let him.

**_2 _**

**_"This is just fantastic..." _**

**_1 _**

**_"Incoming!!!" _**

**_0 _**

_**Boom! **_(A/N - Big mushroom cloud of doom!!!)

**_... _**

**_..._**

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LITD: Please don't kill me because there is a cliffy. I thought that it was a good place to stop at. Though I have to say YAY! to the fact that this is the first actiony bit of the fic and there are many more to come. Unfortunatly for everyone, including me, you will have to wait. Please feed the author with reviews 'cause me is hungry! (munch)

**Anyhoo, till next time and once again I hope you all have a good New Year! ^_^ **


	5. Reality Check

**LITD: …Well, I've been a very bad girl, haven't I? Neglecting the fic for this long…hmmm. That was mainly because I couldn't decided how I was going to layout this chapter, but now that is finally in the past. Now you guys can read to your heart's content. Thanks go out to laureas****, ****ChasingThe13thLight****, ****shooting2stars****, ****Rainxul****, ****HorrorFan13****, ****BluePaintedFreak**** and ****kathy3meme for reviewing the last chapter. As always constructive criticism is appreciated as it helps my abilities improve. **

**Now on with the show. Just to add, HAPPY B-DAY! BRO! XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't know why I bother anymore, I'm too poor :(**

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**Reality Check**

……

…_zz…zzzzz…zzzzzzzzzzzz_

_Click_

_System damage located._

_System damage check initiated:_

_Optical function – minimal damage_

_Spark chamber – minimal damage_

_Energon lines – rupture located in multiple areas. Caution required. Medical attention advised. _

_Energon pressure at 78%._

_No other damages located._

_Preparing for system start up._

…

…

It was completely black when Jazz came back online, but the searing pain all over his frame was the first thing that told him that he was still alive.

"-az-" a muffled voice caught his attention from somewhere above him.

"Huh? Wha?" He tried to move…it didn't work. It was almost as if he was molded to the floor. "This is just fantastic." Jazz huffed once he realized after another few attempts that he wasn't going to get anywhere fast, concluding that he was stuck under something large. The fact that his energy levels were depleting didn't help the matter either.

"Jazz!" This time he heard his name clearly and almost immediately a bright light appeared just behind him. Two pair of metal hands reached out and grabbed the silver mech's shoulders and pulled him out of the rubble onto the tarmac next to the traffic control.

"Yo! Jazz! Respond man!" Sideswipe shouted and waved his hand in front of Jazz's face.

"Damn, not so loud." The lieutenant groaned and was pulled up so that he could stand. Sunny and Sides didn't look too great themselves, scrapes and exposed wires and lines could be seen all over their metal frames.

As you can tell, Sunny wasn't too happy about it.

"Slaggit! This is gonna take me forever to fix up." The yellow twin exclaimed as he gave himself the once over, his faceplates scrunched up in disgust.

In that moment, Jazz turned back to where the three of them had just bolted away from. The effect of the explosion was still lingering in the atmosphere. There was still a large amount of smoke creating the distinct mushroom cloud, but luckily, for humans and Autobots present, it wasn't toxic as they scanned. The only thing that was remotely dangerous was that it had created a tidal wave, though it was nothing to truly worry about as it was only six feet high.

_It never hit the water. That's why the shockwave was stronger than expected._ Jazz thought grimly to himself, but was snapped out of his brief trance when he noticed the humans scurrying around, whether they were military personal or civilian. That's when it hit him.

"Guys, you need to go and check on Rachel." Jazz said suddenly to catch their attention, but he also said it in a more serious manner than usual since this wasn't to be taken lightly. Also he mainly focused on Sunstreaker, who returned Jazz's stare with a glare of his own.

"You already know that I want noth-"

"Now is not the time to question a direct order Sunstreaker." The yellow mech was taken aback by the fact that Jazz had addressed him by his full name. That usually meant that he was _really _slagged off and a slagged off Jazz was one mech that would make you crawl into the closest corner and hide. Apart from Rachet. He was more of a demon when it came to scaring others whether it was on purpose or not.

"But why the both of us? If that fragger decided to come back for a second round then you would be alone. No offense, but you are injured so that increases the odds against you."

"I wouldn't be alone." The silver mech turned and gazed at the base that was now full of life since the attack. Some of the buildings had lost the majority of its windows, but other that, they were fine. "The humans may be small in size, but you don't realize how powerful they really are as a group. The fact that they are organized and loyal to their comrades help them survive. Take Mission City." He paused slightly since that city was considered a taboo to him, but pressed on. "Major Lennox and his team didn't hesitate to help us when we were outnumbered. Also Rachel is considered to be _our _charge because she is a part of the race that we see as our comrades. We are not Decepticons. We don't leave _anyone_ to fend for themselves, no matter what race they come from." Now Sunny looked away, not because of anger, but because he knew that Jazz was right, not that he was going to admit it any time soon.

"Sunny," it was Sides who spoke this time. "You know he's right and you can't take you frustration out on Rachel. In a way, she's still a youngling if you think of her in our terms."

Once he finished Sunny vented a sigh of defeat. "Fine, just make sure that if that little flying slagger or any of those other Decepticreeps turn up, I'll be the first to know." And with that the yellow twin transformed and burned some rubber as he sped off.

"You better catch up so that he doesn't make a glitch of himself." Jazz smirked as the dust started to clear.

Just before Sideswipe went to follow his brother, he replied, "Sometimes that mech can be worse than a High Grade hangover."

* * *

It was dark and extremely quiet once my mind finally started to slow down and I was able to register my surroundings. After the explosion tore through the sky and rocked the house, I couldn't remember what happened to me apart from that I panicked. Thinking about the blast made me instinctively pull my knees into my chest even harder as my sobs racked through my body. I realized then that I had taken refuge in the wardrobe in my bedroom, not the best place, but I guess it was the first place that came to my mind in the rush to escape the panic.

_Not the first panic episode you've had_. It was true. Ever since my parents died I came to realize that it was just me and Jack left to carry our family's name because Mom and Dad were both single siblings. This made me nervous to think that when we passed away, our family name would perish with us. I knew our name was kind of common in the world since I knew some kid in kindergarden called Michael Hunter, but that wasn't the same thing. He was from a different line of Hunters. Our line would just vanish from history.

_Creak!_

The sound of the floorboards groaning against the weight of something forced another hard sob out of me and not a moment later light flooded into my hiding place. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the sudden change in light, but once it did I looked up and through my blurred vision I found Sideswipe gazing down at me with a worried expression.

Of course, he wouldn't really know why I was crying. He wasn't a mindreader and I hadn't told them about my somewhat…_eventful _past. "What's wrong?" He asked in a concerned tone, one that sounded genuinely worried.

The only answer he got was my frame being thrown into his body and I grabbed onto him as if he was my only lifeline. It was then that I noticed that his asshole of a brother was here, in my room staring at me holding onto Sides for dear life.

His bright blue eyes were wide with surprise and my own narrowed at him. "Well, why the hell are you here?!" I suddenly snapped at Sunny who flinched in response.

"I supposed I deserved that." Was all he said.

I let go of Sides, anger boiled within my veins and stormed towards his brother, one finger pointing furiously at the man who chose to ignore me when I tried to be nice, but instead he pushed me away every time I attempted to speak to him. "Damn straight you deserved that! How do you think I felt when someone my brother trusted as a comrade practically flicked me off as if I was a pathetic piece of garbage?! I was hoping for a new start here, not that I ever wanted one, but instead I got stuck with a self-centered son of a bitch." I was heaving for breath by the time I was finished, but his response to my loud rant wasn't one I was expecting.

Sunny's eyes flared back up with the same intensity that my eyes contained and made his own feelings clear. "Do you think that you're the only one who's lost people you cared about?!" My shocked expression didn't faze him as I took a step away from him.

"Sunny, you– " Sideswipe tried to reason, coming up to my side, but was stopped by the rage that radiated from his twin.

"No Sides. She needs to realize that she's not the only one who's lost her parents." I could feel Sides' grimace at my side. The horrible thing about Sides' reaction was that it verified the fact that, in a way, we were the same.

We were orphaned.

Sunny sighed and his gaze, along with his shoulders, dropped, showing the pain that he was going through.

"I'm sorry." My voice seemed small, but it caught Sunny's attention as if I had just screamed it into his ear…though that was tempting, but now was definitely not the time.

"No. I don't accept your apology because I don't deserve one. I apologize for making a prejudice decision against you." I was shocked that he even knew the meaning of the word 'sorry' and looking up at Sides' expression I think that he was wondering the same thing.

What I did next kind of threw me off guard as well as the boys. I hugged Sunny. His stiff posture as I wrapped my arms around his waist told me that he also found it uncomfortable.

_Good! Then I'll stay here because you hate this, but also because you're warm!_ After a few long moments his body softened and his arms folded over my shoulders.

"You're too tall." I said randomly as I looked up at his face.

He smirked back down at me. "No, you're just so small that it's unnatural."

"Hey! Unfair!" I exclaimed, letting go of his warmth to hit him in the chest. I could hear Sides laughing behind me, which felt good because it meant that the ice between the three of us had melted away.

With a sigh of relief, we quieted down though it only took me a few seconds to break the silence. "I need coffee."

So we relocated to the slightly roomier kitchen and I got my coffee, slurping it as loudly as I could just to annoy the boys as they spoke. As they conversed I glanced out of the window to see that the sky had most cleared, only a few specks of smoke remained to scar the blue background. All around the base, from what I could see anyway, there was a commotion, mostly residents running to see what the explosion was about. I looked away when Sunny said something that made Sides laugh.

The twins were sitting at the table in the middle of the room and I don't know why, but it reminded me of the water fight me and Jack had before he left for Rome. Hehe, good times…

Hmmm, speaking of water fights…

"I'll be right back." I said quickly while planting my empty mug by the sink and dashed away, leaving the brothers confused at my sudden exit. However, I didn't leave them long because once I got back I stood in front of them with my _surprise_ hidden behind my back. I think the evil smirk I gave Sunny gave away my intentions.

"Uh, Rachel? What are you doing?" Sunny stuttered with a worried look. Sides knew what I was going to do and was smart enough to slip away.

Once he did, my weapon was unleashed. "REAVENGE!" And I threw a water balloon which hit Sunny right on the face. After a moment of watching the droplets of water fall from the blonde's hair and face, both me and Sides practically started to pee ourselves with laughter.

I only stopped when I noticed the murderous intent in Sunny's eyes from behind the soaking hair as he slowly rose from his chair.

"Rachel?" Sides called from behind. "I would run." And then he ran himself.

"What? Why?"

"You ruined my HAIR!" Sunny roared and charged.

As you can tell, I followed Sides advice to the letter. "Holy shit! RUN AWAY! AHHHH! OMG!"

Think of the next part as a replay of what happened with Jack. .owned...and drenched. Payback's a bitch, ain't it?

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LITD: I had fun writing this chapter. It made me laugh as I wrote it, the second part I mean. Since it took me such a long time to update, I don't know if you guys want this next part or not, but I added a little extra after this A/N. It's a small description of when Rachel's grandparents died and the reason why she freaked out about the explosion. You don't have to read it, but I would appreciate it if you did. It's still in Rachel's POV and she's six at the time. Please review guys, me hungry, munch, munch.

**Till next time! ^_^**

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I gazed hungrily at the cookie that sat on the plate that Grandma brought outside along with a small glass of milk. Once she placed the food in front of me I snatched the cookie from the plate, while squealing "Yummy!" at the same time.

"_Don't rush it now or else you'll choke." My Grandma laughed as she watched me devour the poor, defenseless cookie. Her laugh continued as she wobbled back into the house via the front door._

_I was sitting in front yard in amongst the dolls that both my Grandma and I possessed, Grandma's were years old since she had them when she was my age. From where I was sitting I could see my Grandpa preparing something for dinner in the kitchen, smiling as Grandma entered through the door. _

_They looked so happy together. It was nice to see that._

_Just as I had finished murdering the cookie I started to hear a weird, annoying high-pitched squeal and it came from the kitchen. It was obvious that my grandparents could hear it too. From where I was I could see them search frantically around the room, disappearing every so often as they looked high and low. _

_What happened next no one expected. _

_A blinding light began to shine through the kitchen suddenly followed by a deafening sound, one that tore through the whole house. It threw me back and I must have blanked out because the next thing I knew was that there was a lot of shouting around me. __**Be quiet!**__ My mind screamed, but they could not hear my mental plea._

"_Someone call 911! That house is coming down!" Someone shouted wildly from somewhere close beside me. I tried to open my eyes, but it hurt so much I cried out causing the shouts to freeze and I could feel the frightened stares focus on me. _

_I don't know how much damage was done to my body or the house. I didn't care. Only one thing was on my mind._

"…_G-Grandma…Grand…pa…" My voice seemed tiny and hoarse. A gentle feeling suddenly appeared on my forehead and I managed to open eyes to see a woman, one of the neighbors, look at me, pain and sympathy filled her eyes._

_I may be young, but I wasn't stupid. Even though it hurt, my eyes widened as my gaze went passed her and focused on the house. No, it wasn't a house. It was a large pile of rubble covered in balls of flames. _

_I don't think I have ever screamed so much in my entire life._


	6. Big ass robots,,,WTF!

**LITD: Despite the fact that I didn't get many reviews for the last chapter I thought that I would update early as an apology for the long wait that you guys had to endure. Sorry about that guys! The next update shouldn't take too long...hopefully. I know what I'm going to do for the next chapter, all I need to do is type it down.**

**Thanks go to EclipticNight, Stand in the Light-Xynlake and 2GrayBoys for reviewing, it fills me with happiness! ^_^**

**Also, there's action in this one again folks and hopefully you will enjoy it.**

**On with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers and 'Careful' belongs to Paramore (They're awesome! ^_^) **

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Big ass robots…WTF?!

Boredom is such a dangerous thing.

You end up doing things that could potentially kill you in the end, but I was so bored I tried a little game of Hide and Seek with Sides and Sunny. The only thing was that they didn't know that they were playing.

This meant that I was left alone at the house while they were at a meeting with their boss. Not that I wanted to get them in troubled, though it was extremely tempting, I thought that it would be fun.

I wonder how long it was going to take for them to realize I wasn't still in the house. They should have been back by now.

At the moment, precisely twenty-three minutes into the 'game', after running about the base I found myself at one of the abandoned hangers that Jake had told me about while showing me around. It was basically a junkyard and the name didn't lie. Inside was nothing but old pieces of scrap metal from tiny pieces to some that were about the size of the house.

I smirked. "Perfect." And I walked inside, humming along to 'Careful' by Paramore as it blared through my Ipod Touch's speakers.

_You make your way in.  
I resist you just like this.  
You can't tell me to feel!  
The truth never set me free, so I did it myself._

Just then I found myself standing before a large pillar trapped amongst a pile of rubble, a potential climbing frame…you can see where this is going. However, it was the huge thing behind the pillar that caught my full attention. _Is that a jet engine I see before me? Awesome!_

"Dangerous…I like it!" I chimed and began to crawl towards my target to check out the busted up turbine, my jacket flapping and slapping my back as I ascended.

Though as I got closer something snagged onto my sleeve and stopped me in my tracks. "Just my luck." I grunted as I tried to pry myself free. I pulled and it let go of my sleeve but the momentum sent me flying backwards into a cave-like structure amongst the pile of metal just under where I was standing originally. I landed with a thud, which hurt like hell!, leaving me dazed for a moment.

I groaned, turning onto my side. "Urgh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea." However, before my vision was fully restored something gold shimmered in the light, catching my attention. I rolled onto my hands and knees and crawled vigorously towards it, intrigued as to why something so shiny found itself in a dump like this. Once I got to it, I picked it up and saw that it had weird markings all over it, but the edges were jagged as if it was a part of something much larger.

That's when I heard my phone ring in my pocket, the final fantasy victory tune piercing the silent atmosphere in a loud manner.

Yes, I love final fantasy. I grew up with it so can you blame me?

Anyway, I gazed at the caller ID, which showed me that it was Sideswipe, probably due to the fact that he went back to the house only to find it vacant. However, because I was busy looking at the screen as I was exiting the cave I was oblivious to the fact that the ground that I was walking on wasn't level. This led to me tripping slightly, dropping the gold thingy as I tried to catch myself. I was not going to land on my ass again. It's been abused too much from falling.

_Woosh!_

"OMG!" I screamed and jumped back from the shockwave, throwing my arms over my head incase it exploded…but nothing happened after that. Looking through the gap between my arms, the shard hadn't fallen far and thankfully it looked fine. "Well, that was a tad anti-climatic."

I think the Gods must have heard me.

Something behind me groaned as I grabbed the shard thingy and I pivotted in time to watch different portions of the pile collapse in on each other and I _saw something move!_ And I don't mean something that just fell on its own because of its weight. I meant that it actually began to _shift on its own_!

I took a step back, almost tripping over the last part of the debris as I moved gingerly towards the exit. "You've got to be kidding me." I muttered as the jet engine, the one I was originally heading to, finished shifting and _stood up_ as did four other parts of the scrapheap. At first I was transfixed at what was happening around me, dumbfounded by the very fact that there were _robots_ standing in the hanger, though I almost forgot that I was also in the same place…and all five of them were staring at me with their blood red eyes. It was so cool and scary I nearly peed myself until one spoke.

"Give me the Allspark shard, squishy! NOW!" One shouted, but after a few seconds of doing nothing, they leaped for me in unison, snarling like a pack of starved dogs rushing for a small piece of meat...I just pwned myself again, didn't I?...

Anyway...moving on.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran for my life, stumbling over the threshold to the hanger. I kept running, the thuds behind me getting closer and louder as I went. I knew that they would catch me eventually, it was a matter of physics and common sense, but since I had lost the latter a while back I kept on truckin'. No way would I let a bunch of rusted tin can…things catch me, it just wasn't my style. Also to the fact that I WAS TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!

No one would believe me if I told them about this! Though the amount of noise that they were making was bound to attract someone's attention.

"Rachel?!" A familiar, yet startled voice called. My head snapped towards the source and, because I wasn't really paying any attention to where I was going at that moment, something solid behind me slammed into my back, thrusting me forward and I practically faceplanted the floor.

_Just damn typical. Why is it that when you're running for your life that you always seem to fall at the worst possible moment?!_

I rolled onto my back, which screamed in pain, and groaned only to look straight into the red eyes of the metallic things. It was almost like I was staring right into Death's face albeit metal.

"Give me the shar-" The robot didn't get the chance to finish as everyone's gaze turned towards the sound of car engines as they roared towards us.

One was red while the other was yellow followed closely by a silver car. It wasn't hard to see that it was Sides, Sunny and Jazz. But what could they do? Run them over? Act like bumper cars and hope they fall like dominoes? _Heh, funny thought._

"Autobot scum!" One of the things in front of me snarled and turned fully towards the approaching cars, morphing his arm into a cannon…

Uh oh. Think of my face as looking like this: O.O

Only that's when I realized that the three cars, my _friends'_ cars, weren't…cars. About ten yards away from the group, the three vehicles _transformed_ and used their momentum to slam full speed into the robots, causing them to collapse on each other in a tangled heap, screeching and growling at one another as they threw punches.

"Rachel!" The red one grunted as he pulled himself off of the robot that used to be the jet engine. "Get away from here!"

Why did it sound like Sideswipe so much?...No. No it couldn't be him…could it?

Despite my internal debate I complied anyway. No way in hell was I about to die by getting squished into a puddle. I scrambled from the concrete and sprinted towards the hanger opposite the junkyard and hide behind the door. I couldn't contain the gasp once I finally looked back at what I had just left behind.

There were now eight robotic…things brawling it out in the middle of the tarmac, though two were now sprawled out against the floor motionless. The silver one, Jazz's car?, was shooting the engine robot, scoring hits on the shoulder and the head, throwing him back. Like a crash of thunder, it slumped to the ground in an explosion of dirt and debris. After the commotion calmed slightly the downed robot lay still, an indication that it was defeated and possibly dead.

Sides' car, though I was still debating if it was really him or not, jumped at his opponant, I couldn't see what it was supposed to be, with a sword that was attached to his wrist. The bad robot tried to dodged the weapon, but Sides lifted his knee to catch him right him the face causing the metal to crunch and collapse in on itself. I flinched as I watched the bad one clutch at his injury, but since he was preoccupied with his wound Sideswipe thrust his sword with a battle cry and stabbed the dazed robot square in the chest. It cried out, but almost immediately it's eyes shuttered before going completely blank and it fell to the ground with a loud thud, one that I could feel despite the distance between the battle and me.

Meanwhile, the yellow car, I assumed it was Sunny, was standing on top of one of the remaining robots, which was motionless too so I assumed that it was dead, while shooting with a gun attached to it's arm at the final intruder. Despite the last robot's retaliation, it was over whelmed once the silver and the red car joined the yellow one and it crumpled to the ground into a smoldering heap not a moment later.

For a few moments everyone, including me, was frozen like statues. I could hear the hard, fast drumming of my heart against my ribcage as I stood staring the carnage in front of me.

That's when the trio turned to me, lowering and putting away their weapons as they did it. That didn't stop me from running.

"Rachel! Wait!"

I froze. That was Sideswipe's voice again and it was coming from one of the robots behind me. With a very shaky sigh, I slowly turned towards the trio who had saved me from becoming a puddle in the middle of the tarmac.

Bewilderment overwhelmed my mind. I was staring up at robots and they helped me.

"Well, what do ya think, shorty? Not exactly the best way to show you our real selves, but I guess it'll have to do." The silver one chuckled nervously as he kneeled down a few feet in front of me, the shine in his bright, blue eyes looked…amused and I knew that voice anywhere.

"J-Jazz?!" I stuttered, still not processing what I was seeing in front of me. At first, the three of them looked nervous as if I was about to scream bloody murder, that is, until I started to giggle like a two year old. "Wow...that was so cool!" Despite the fact that I was numb with the amount of adrenaline pulsing through me, I could tell I was smiling since my cheeks hurt or maybe that was from the fall since I did faceplant the concrete. Never try that at home kids!

"We would've told you sooner, but we couldn't risk your safety. The Decepticons have been picking off our human allies recently and that's why we were having a meeting. We were actually going to tell you about us today, but I don't think that's really necessary anymore." The yellow one, who I could now confirm to be Sunstreaker, explained and I could see that the three of them were smirking.

"So, does that mean that your boss is like you?" I asked.

"Yep and once the team in Rome get back, you will be meeting everybody. Though today we were going to let you meet the other humans that will be attending the same school that you'll be starting after summer's over. Sam and Mikaela. They were basically the first civillians to find out about us, but we can postpone the meeting after-" Sideswipe motioned to the dead robots who were still smoldering as they lay on different parts of the concrete, "-that just happened."

My heart was still pumping a million miles a minute, but other than that, I felt fine although I knew, once the rest of the adrenaline wears off, I was going to feel the full effects of this later on. It would be nice to meet some guys that are going to be at the same school as me. They can give me the do's and don'ts at the school. And I don't mean the rules that the teachers set up if you catch my drift.

"Even though I was used as a baseball and nearly squished to death, I'm fine." I chirped, but I turned back to the carnage on the runway. My smile quickly turned into a frown. "What's going to happen to them?"

"We'll have to move them before the news crews turns up or someone just stumbles across them. Not everyone that lives here knows about us and its best for it to stay that way." Jazz replied solemnly and stood up.

"Don't worry." Sides said, snapping me out of my daydream. "Jazz will take care of it since he's in charge until O.P comes back."

"O.P?"

"Optimus Prime i.e. bossman. As we said, you'll meet everyone once they get back."

"So, you ready to go meet your fellow students?" Sunny added. Now I know he didn't have to call them my _fellow students_, but he always brought up school since he knew that I hated everything about the place.

"Yeah, I guess."

While Jazz was working with military with removing the dead robots from the runway we went back to my apartment so that I could get cleaned up and at the same time the twins described to me what their race was like. Since I now knew what they really were we thought that I may as well get to know about their history. However, they were adamant that some of the details were kept from me.

My back hurt like hell since I was used as a baseball so I went straight for the shower. Although I couldn't the pain at the moment, I knew that once the adrenaline wears off I was going to in absolute agony and I was going to be black and blue for a while...Joy.

Though Sides and Sunny said they didn't mind, I still felt guilty about making them wait, but I really needed to get the dirt and the blood, from the cut that I still couldn't find, off of my skin. You can't go out when you look like hell, one of girls' many rules of social activity. I deposited my, now FOBR'ed, jacket onto the bedroom floor and tore off the band that kept my hair from my face.

But I froze once I glanced at the mirror. Something was sticking out of my side by about an inch…and large abundance of blood came from that area, staining the shirt a startling dark crimson against the white cotton. My face paled and I could feel my heart rate increase rapidly. Pain quickly followed suit.

_That better not be what I think it is_.

With a quivering breath I slowly lifted my shirt and what my widened eyes stared at made me instantly feel sick. No one would've spotted it because of the jacket.

The shard that I thought I had lost was sticking out of my skin causing it to let my blood escape and dribble onto the floor. _I must've landed on it when that Decepticon hit me._

Suddenly, my vision blurred, my mind unable to comprehend with what I was staring at and the shock was beginning to take over my system.

"Sideswipe?!" I shouted weakly as my legs began to wobble and fail, forcing myself to grasp onto desk that sat next to the mirror. It did little to help me. With my strength fully sapped from me I slumped onto my floor, the thud of the impact muffled once my senses began to fade.

Just before darkness consumed the rest of my vision, I could see the twins shocked expression and hear their startled calls as their holoforms snapped into existence in the middle of my room. Then I slipped into unconsciousness.

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LITD: Dun, dun duuuuun! Well, to be fair I would've fainted if I saw something sticking out of my side too. It would hurt like hell! I've crushed my middle finger before when I was nine, but thank god they didn't have to take it off. Now that was agony! Never put your fingers between two tables guys or face the same consequences I did!

**Please, review guys. It motivates me! ^_^**

**Till next time!**


	7. Aftereffects

**LITD: Yes folks, it's a miracle. I have updated reasonably soon for once.****This is due to fabulous reviews I got for the last chapter (though its not the most amount, but that doesn't matter). At least I know there are still some who'll read this fic.**

**Thanks go to EclipticNight, Fourth Remnant, Saphireblu987, ForhornLeghorn83 and Darklight8121 for reviewing the last chapter.**

**To be honest I don't like this chapter, but that might be because there's not much action in it. Though it does answer some of your questions regarding what happened to Rachel. I promise a lot more will begin to happen which may include a death...or two. **

**Now on with the show. Enjoy! (hopefully)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers *sigh***

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**Aftereffects**

"_Barricade?!" The sudden snarl shot the Saleen out of his silent recharge, jolting his entire frame to the side as his systems shuttered in annoyance at the sudden start up._

_Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one woken by the disturbance. "What the frag?!" Frenzy exclaimed, transforming rapidly and rubbed vigorously at the sore spot at the back of his head that had been smashed into the metal interior._

_Barricade ignored the little Con. "Primus Ramjet! What do you want?!"_

_The Conehead sneered through the comm. and chuckled at the Scout's agitation. "Oh, I'm sorry recharging beauty, but I thought you might want the update though if you don't want it then-" _

"_Just get on with it."_

"_Fine." Ramjet deadpanned, but continued in a serious fashion. "The traitor has been apprehended and is being detained at the base 263 miles to your South-West."_

_That statement immediately caught the Scout attention, even though he was still in his alt-mode Barricade was smirking. "It's about time that flying slagger is treated like he really is. I swear to Primus that he was really an Autobot in disguise."_

"_Yeah well, he ain't going anywhere soon 'cause he's locked down with his legs and wings all busted up. As you can tell he did put up a fight, but we got him in the end."_

_Barricade let out a low laugh. "Sounds like you had a bit of trouble." How he loved to torment the others when given the chance._

"_Hey! At least we caught him."_

"_Just m__ake sure he stays in his cell this time. We do not need another small nuisence running around when we have more important things to do." Before Ramjet could make a comment, Barricade blocked the signal, leaving him to ponder on the information that he had received from the Conehead. But first he as going to rest some more before he would let something as insignificant as that get on his systems._

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I was drugged up once I finally came round. The thudding in my head was not what a girl wanted once they woke up from their sleep. Though it took me a few seconds for my vision to refocus and I noticed that I wasn't in my room. Hell, I wasn't even in the house.

I found myself lying on what seemed to be a pale blue hospital bed. _Explains the stiff back, Urgh._ My gaze wondered around the room that I was in and gaped at the shear size of it. The ceiling was so tall that it could've been compared to the house and it was about as wide as one of the hangers out by the tarmac.

Wait. Hangers?

My eyes shot down to my side and they widened in revelation once they lay on the bandage around my torso. With my heart rate increasing I remembered everything that happened. The scrapheap. The shard thingy. The _robots_. How I was saved by Sides, Sunny and Jazz…who were also robots. They said to call them Autobots or something like that.

_It's OK, they're the good guys. They saved you from becoming a puddle. If they wanted to kill you, they would've done it already._ My thoughts weren't really helping.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise and something in the back of my mind told me that something was coming. Shakily, my head rolled to the left only to stare at the gigantic metal door that remained closed, although the feeling didn't change. In fact, after each second passed, the weird feeling intensified.

I sighed heavily. _Nothing's coming. You're just in a very big hospital and –_

The door hissed open, I flinched at the sudden occurrence and gazed at another robot who I was hoping was an Autobot.

"Ah, I see that you're awake. It's about time. That slagging twin has been pestering me about your condition ever since the moment we got back. I swear to Primus I will weld that mech's aft to the ceiling if he asks me one more time." The lime green Autobot rambled on, strolling over to where I was lying as he continued. "It seems we have to keep an extra optic on you from now on."

"Huh? Why? And what were those things that attacked me in the first place?" I found that my voice slurred a bit, much have been due to the painkillers since my body did feel quite numb. _Heh, I feel funny..._

"I thought that the twins would've told you." One of his metal I eyebrows raised as he turned to face me. And then his optics dimmed slightly just as a hologram snapped to life about three feet from my bed. "Those things that attacked you just happened to be Decepticons drones and they were after the Allspark fragment that you had recovered. You are lucky to be alive."

_Okay so that means Decepticons = bad things happen to self._

"You mean the shard that just happened to be sticking out of my side? They were after that?"

He scanned over my body as if he was checking my condition, wouldn't surprise me if he could actually do that just by staring at me, and looked back at my face.

"Because the shard was in contact with your body for such a long period of time, it is believed that some of it's energy has been transferred to you, which means, despite my knowledge of your species and my own, I have no idea what it might do to your body."

"Does the fact that I knew that you were coming before you even came through the door help you? I got this weird feeling run down my body and then, what do ya know, you turned up." I giggled at bit. "I think I've turned into a robo-radar."

"It might be that you can sense our Energon, which is our life source. This won't be good if the Decepticons find out. We'll have to be extremely cautious from now on."

_I think he really meant for the rest of my life_.

His features took a grim expression. The hologram that portrayed him looked to be in its forties, dark brown hair along with a goatee and bright blue eyes. I noticed that he was wearing a lab coat, indicating that he was a doctor.

That could only mean one thing.

"You're Rachet, aren't you?" I asked tiredly. The fact that his gaze shifted to meet mine answered the question for me. "Sideswipe's told me a lot about you guys, I mean, the human perspective since it was before I saw you guys like-" my arm swung clumsily at his metal form of himself that sat beside the edge of, what looked to be a table for him, "-this."

Rachet grunted and began to fiddle with the heart monitor at the left of my bed. "Yes, well at first it was best that you didn't know about us, but now that you do, there's not much that we can do about it."

My eyes went downcast. "I like knowing what you guys are. I hate secrets." I mumbled.

The medic sighed tiredly and his hologram faded away. "Unfortunately, sometimes secrets are made to protect others. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if the rest of your world found out about our kind or our war?"

Rachet did have a point there, though it was the last part of his explanation that caught my attention. "Wait. War?"

"It's best someone told you that when you were more able to stay awake youngling. You better rest some more." And the big robot turned to leave, his thunderous footsteps the only source of sound apart from the annoying beeps from the heart monitor.

"Wait!" I called, causing the medic to freeze and stare back at me. "How long have I been here?"

"Three days, four hours and twenty-six minutes. Now sleep. Your painkillers will help you rest easily."

Wow, I had been here for three days? I wonder what Jack said once he found out about me…on second thought, I don't wanna know.

After the door hissed shut, sleep came sharply once the painkillers kicked in, leaving me to sleep through into a new and perhaps a more dangerous world.

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The next time I woke up, I thought I could hear Sideswipe's voice. He sounded annoyed for some reason and was shouting. Not the best thing for someone waking up after having pain meds pumped through their system.

"Urgh, Sides will you please shut up?" I growled and tried to open eyes, my vision obscured since I had only just up a few moments earlier. However, I was surprised to see…well nothing. There was no one in the room with me and the only sound at that point that I could hear was the heart monitor.

_Huh, weird. I thought Sideswipe was in the room, but I guess-_

_Uh, Rachel? You do know that I can hear you, right?_

"…Say what?!" I rose sharply up into a sitting position only to cause a pain shoot into my side.

_The painkillers must be wearing off._

I winced as the pain gnawed under the bandage, but also because my sudden change in position caused the heart monitor to pitch forward and crash onto the metal floor. The noise was deafening, almost like someone smashed a gong next to my head.

"Owwwwwwww!" I exclaimed sharply while holding my head in my hands and rubbing my temple tenderly as the ringing continued to throb my brain.

That's not the only thing that happened. I didn't have to turn to know that Rachet was coming to check up on me.

Once the door hissed open Rachet vented out an annoyed sigh. "Must you insist on destroying everything that you come into contact with?" The medic said as he strolled over towards me and went to put something down next to me.

Or rather, _someone._

I was enveloped in a strong hug immediately after Jack was set down. It was silent albeit a peaceful one, the only sound came from Rachet's systems. Thankfully the heart monitor was dead.

_Ha! In your face evil machine of nagging doom!_

"Jack, although I love you very much too, can you _please let me breath?_" I gasped in a dramatic fashion once my brother's vice grip finally let me go, which earned me two eye rolls (Rachet was in his holoform at the time).

Out of nowhere, I slapped Jack over the head. I was mad OK.

"What the hell?!" He yelped, rubbing the sore spot I just gave him.

"That's for not telling me the truth from the start." I huffed and shifted on the bed so that I was sitting with my legs crossed while facing my two visitors. "When can I go home?" I asked hopefully though Rachet's look didn't give me such a great answer.

"Unfortunately, I will have to do some more tests-"

"-No-"

"-just in case the Allspark fragment did some damage to your system. Since the human body acts against foreign substances that it comes across it might cause you harm in the future."

"Nooooooooooooo! I don't wanna stay here much longer. No offence Rachet, but I prefer my own bed." Seriously, one more night sleeping on this log and my back's gonna be screwed up for life.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay here until the tests are completed, which could take up one week." The medic explained as he checked out the broken heart monitor.

My jaw dropped. _One more frickin' week?! I go back to school next week!_

I turned to Jack who was looking at me in concern and…was that amusement?! "Please kill me now." I pouted.

"Sorry. What Rachet says goes." My brother smirked and ruffled my hair. Normally I would've cared and bitten off his fingers in response, but since it was shampoo deprived my hair was nothing but a tangle, greasy mess. I just stuck out my tongue like a two year old at him and sulked.

…Speaking of brothers.

"Rachet? Not make you worried or anything, but is it normal for me to hear Sideswipe or am I just going crazy?"

The way that the medic's features changed and that he bolted upright instantly made me regret saying that out loud. "Since when?" he said intensely, his blue eyes narrowed in concentration. I knew he was scanning me again.

"Uh…since just before you guys turned up. I'm not gonna die, am I?" I asked in a panic. As I said when running from the drones, I'm too young to die!

After a moment of agonizing silence, Rachet spoke up. "That was when Sideswipe was complaining about never getting to see you."

"Yep. Sounds about right. But how can I hear him and not anyone else?"

"It could be that when you were brought here, it was Sideswipe who brought you when you still had the Allspark shard imbedded in your body, which could've influenced you both to bond with each other."

When I heard Jack say 'you've got to be kidding me' I became nervous. "And what does that mean? I'm somehow connected to him?"

"In our culture to create a sparkbond is like when humans become married only this connection can never be severed. It also acts as a communication link between the two bondmates, though how it happened to you is…well, I don't know what to make of it since it has never happened before. I dont think it will be exactly the same because we are so different."

"This is just _fantastic_." I groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

What made this moment a tad funny was that Sideswipe had heard the whole conversation too and said the same thing and the same moment.

_Goddamnit! And I'm meant to be going to school next week. This is going to be a nightmare._

_Hey. At least you have me for the rest of your life._ Sides said though he sounded unsure like I was.

_No offence Sides, but soooo not helping. Oh well, at least I can say I'm unique, right?...And legal...lol._

The uncomfortable silence kind of gave me the indication to stop before I made things much worse, though I had a feeling that things would even without my help.

Frickin' yay.

School's gonna be a breeze compared to this.

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**LITD: Urgh, school's a bitch no matter which one you attend. Am I right guys? Also sorry about the kind of boring atmosphere in this chapter, though I'LL GIVE A COOKIE TO ANYONE WHO CAN FIGURE OUT WHO THE TRAITOR IS! It shouldn't be too hard if you're a die-hard fan and know everything about Transformers *Holds up hand and waves***

**Please review guys. They make me feel warm inside. Warmness = Quicker updates. Also if there are any mistakes or references that I got wrong then don't hesitate to tell me.**

**Till next time!**


	8. Screwed due to lack of coffee

**LITD: Sorry for the lateness guys. My laptop literally died on me so I had to buy a new one. But now I'm back in business. Yay!**

**Thanks go to EclipticNight, DramaStar-Mel, Saphireblu987, Xynlake the 14th member, 2GreyBoys and Dragoon-Yue for reviewing the last chapter. Once again your support and advice keeps me in check and motivated.**

**Also, there's more action in this one guys so hopefully you'll enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. **

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**Screwed due to lack of coffee**

Over the next four weeks I began to notice how much my life had changed.

First of all, I had become Rachet's apprentice by accident...and because I was small...

_Don't laugh_.

No, it was actually because he got one of his wrenches stuck under the armor on his back when he tried to do his trademark throw at Sideswipe and it slipped from his grasp. I laughed so hard that it actually hurt while Sides escaped with his head dent-free.

Since his metal digits were too big and I just happened to be there (it was my last day in the med bay) he asked me to squeeze through the gaps and wriggle it enough so that Rachet could pick it out because I was too small to pick it up. _For once my shortness is worth something! Yay!_

Now Rachet is trying to teach me the basics about being a medic, but for his race. At first everything was really complex since I was dealing with circuitry instead of body parts, but after a few attempts (this was when I found out that Rachet is a severely impatient kind of guy) I finally grasped some concepts. I even got my own set of tools that I could actually pick up! So now, every so often, Rachet would test me and give me small projects to try at home...

Bare in mind that this was just before I was suppose to start up school again...urgh.

Though I'll be honest when I say it wasn't so bad once I knew my way around the place, with Sam and Mikaela's help of course. They were so sweet and are like a comedy act together. Seriously, they're like an old married couple with their bickering before kissing _literally _then making up.

Classes were the usual. Boring that is apart from Art, that was awesome because our teacher let us basically do what we want, unless it was homework, that's when she would act like a demon from hell if you didn't bring in your work on time. My other classes, which consisted of Maths, Science, English Lit and Spanish, were easy because they were slightly behind my former school so most of the periods I would just drown out the noise that would come from the teacher's mouth using my Ipod nano. On the other hand, Spanish was a breeze because my Dad was originally from Miami and is spanish so he taught Jack and I since we were three.

I begrudgingly admit that Japanese and P.E were my weaknesses, but I had an ace up my sleeve for them. Because Transformers could learn things using the Internet within a matter of seconds Sides said that he could help me whenever he was around...and if he wanted to. No, the twins weren't the kind of guys that found education beneficial and I had to plead to get him to help me. It would work in the end thankfully...because Sides started to believe that I was becoming a human version of Rachet. Didn't know if it was a compliment or not, but he only thought that when I start to throw my stuff at him when he said no.

...Moving on.

One of the other things that happened was that Jack had received Mom and Dad's will...hmmm. We found out that they left everything to us, obvious since there was no one else to give anything to. This also included life insurance of $30,000. The house was something both Jack and I eventually agreed that there was no point in keeping so it was sold once our belongings were removed and relocated into our respective rooms or also sold for money that Jack needed to pay off some bills and loans.

I got a new truck, one that worked at least. Think of it as a smaller version of Ironhide. By this point I realized that our parents wouldn't want us to mope, they even said in the will for us to use the money as we please and not to be upset when they were gone, though I was obviously still going to grieve for them. So with the money I bought myself a new, top of the range Iphone 3GS and 15 inch MacBook Pro. Rachet stole the Iphone to put a tracking device and also modified it so that if I got into some sort of trouble then all of the Autobots would be on speed dial...not that it was needed since Sides was _always_ there. In my head I mean.

To add to the list I also bought myself PS3 and XBox 360. _Come on, with the money I got_, _I had to._

Jack, on the other hand since he's a guy, splashed out on practically everything that was needed...well, he _wanted_ would be a more accurate description. He got a flatscreen, 42 inch TV for every room, including mine. _Yay_! _No more complaints from me_. Though he didn't see the point in buying a new car since he was never home most of the time anyway and if he needed a ride, Jazz wasn't so far away.

Back to the present. It was Saturday and I was currently finishing of some Science homework based on radio waves traveling through space. _Irony much._ With satisfied sigh, I dropped the pen onto the filled paper and sat back to relax.

It was still hard to believe how much everything had changed. My eyes stung slightly as the tears began to build up, but I quickly swiped them away and went for the kitchen. My beloved coffee would sort things out.

Everything was quiet. Jack was once again on a mission, but this time nearly everyone, Autobots included, had to go along for backup. It was Jazz, Sunny and Jolt, another one of Rachet's apprentices, that stayed behind so that the base had some form of metallic muscle.

Now, Sunny I was worried about. Once I began to slurp the hot, caffeine filled goodness I was beginning to wonder why the mech was starting to hate me again. After the whole incident a month ago, he was fine at first, but once time went on the yellow Autobot was giving me the cold shoulder again.

_Forget him_. Sides suddenly said through our link, almost making me choke on the coffee. _He just hates the fact that I want to be around you instead of his grumpy slaggin' self, that's all_.

He wants to be with me? I was actually beginning to blush at the comment, but tried to act normal as I replied. _Some things never change, huh? _I chuckled aloud though it wasn't hard to hear the nervous tinge to it.

Sides laughed with me, something that made me feel...almost warm inside...

In fact, he reminds me of Jack. A Jack away from Jack, even though they were both away at the moment

_And he's hot and kind and has a great sense of humor, especially around Rachet. _My mind screamed at me. Not that I was going to reject that fact, but still...

Anyway, Sides quickly told me what was happening, he was currently lying low in the middle of some random forest waiting, along with Ironhide, to spring a trap on Decepticons that were last seen in the area. Once he said goodbye, there was nothing but silence as he blocked me so that I wouldn't accidentally distract him. The only type of noise that I could hear was the news coming from the TV in the living room.

For a second I just stared at my blue cup, now empty, then I glanced at the see-through coffee holder, which happened to also be empty...just my damn luck. I huffed like a stubborn two year old since I knew where this was going. In fact, it turned out that we needed a lot of things and with Jack's absence it looks like I was the only candidate to do the grocery shopping.

With the list clutched in my hand, I called Jazz to tell him that I was going to the store to pick up some things and then I was off. It was only a ten minute drive, but I couldn't help feeling nervous about something and it wasn't the fact that the rain was lashing down in some invisible fury. It was the feeling that you get when you think that someone is watching you.

I just shrugged it off. "Probably just the caffeine kicking in." I convinced myself as I pulled into the car park. A sudden shriek whizzed past on the road, causing me to stumble in fright. Okay, so now I was skiddish about any noise that I heard. _God, I've gotta lay off the coffee._

Shopping for food didn't take too long since there wasn't too much to get. Bags in hand, I strolled to the truck and placed them in the back seat. At the same time, that weird, feeling caused me to shiver and freeze on the spot, grasping the back door in my sudden shock. Just then, the same police car that nearly gave me a heart attack raced passed again, sirens blaring, but I didn't jump this time because I knew it was coming. But I didn't _see_ it coming, I just knew it was there.

Not normal, even for me.

_Just the coffee, it's just the coffee. _By the time I climbed into the driver's seat I was in full panic mode. Something was seriously off about this. Before this had happened, I saw the same police car every time I left the base at least three times and I was now convinced that this was _not_ a coincidence.

I didn't care that I was doing thirty over the speed limit, I just wanted to get back to the safety of the base where I had big ass robots protecting the place.

Something flashed in the mirror, something that just happened to be blue and red, and it was accompanied by the siren only used by police car. I slowed to a steady stop, the same could not be said for my heart rate. I was trembling all over.

Something was extremely wrong. There was a Transformer nearby and that meant that the police officer and I were in danger. But how do you tell someone that we could be smooshed at any moment without blurting out that we had an alien race living with us on Earth?

_Tap tap!_

The noise made me visibly jump, almost out of my skin. Shakily, I pressed the button to let the window roll down to face the officer. He had black hair, which was now wet, and shades on despite the fact that it was pouring down with rain.

"Do you know how fast you were going young lady?" He asked sternly, leaning against the door as he said it.

That's when I glance at his name tag, one that made my eyes bulge out of their sockets and nearly scream down the heavens.

_Officer B. Cade..._

_..._

_Barricade..._

_Holy shit!_

"Because you better hope that your pile of scrap metal goes a lot faster than that." The shades were removed to reveal the officer's eyes...no, not officer.

Decepticon.

His blood red eyes were piercing through my skin, which confirmed my guess. Though that only lasted a fraction of a second because by then I had floored the accelerator and snatched up the Iphone which sat oblivious to the danger on the passenger seat.

"Come on, come on, come on!" I whispered harshly as I flicked through the speed dial list. Finally I found Jazz's name and immediately called him again. Though at the same time I glanced in the mirror and automatically wished I hadn't. Despite the fact that I was racing down the empty road at one hundred and fifty-three miles per hour, the black and white Decepticon was gaining unbelievably fast.

_Nearly there. Only a mile to go..._I knew I wasn't going to make it.

"Rach? What's wro-"

"Decepticons are here! It's Barricade and he's after me! He's right th-" My panicked voice turned into a scream when the truck jerked to the right, causing the phone to slip from my fingers as I clenched the wheel trying to control the sudden, erratic movements.

Though it was all in vain.

The next smash sent me spiraling off of the road into the field that sat next to it, flipping over because of the intensity of the hit combined with the rough terrain. My cries were drowned out by the crashing metal and I blanked out when my head smashed against the window just before it fell apart.

...

Carnage. That's what I woke up to. It mustn't have been too long after the crash once I was finally able to survey my surroundings properly and my vision was normal again. Though that's when I realized that the truck had come to rest on its roof. Rain thrashed against the underbelly of the vehicle as I struggled out of the seat, crashing hard against the metal once I finally managed to undo the seat belt.

A groan escaped my lips, but I silenced myself immediately when I heard a familiar thudding just outside the truck.

I whimper quietly when I tried to roll over onto my right side only to find that blood was coming from the back of my right shoulder. But it wasn't just the pain, it was the fear that caused me to whimper.

_Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. I'm going to die! _

Something grabbed me and roughly dragged me out of the mess that was once my truck. I was kicking and screaming, the adrenaline fuelled my aggressive retaliation, but it wasn't enough to stop my capture from bringing me out into the open.

I froze once the ground stopped moving under me and I stared wide-eyed into the red optics of Barricade who's face was no more that a few feet from my own. Before I could even react, his hand came crashing down onto my body, forcing the air to rush out of my lungs.

"Why do I sense the Allspark on you flesh bag?! Where is the fragment?!" He snarled at me, the force of his hand pressing harder onto my body, almost to the point that would snap my bones like twigs.

"I don't know wha-" My reply quickly turned into a cry as the pressure became unbearable.

"K-k-kill the femme, C-c-cade. I-i-it obviously isn't useful t-to our c-c-cause." A stutter came from behind me.

The large Decepticon seemed to ponder on the idea as he didn't respond right away, but it didn't take long to make up his mind. "Since this piece of garbage doesn't have anything useful in its processor, I guess you're right." Barricade's free arm shifted, forming into a gun which was instantly pointed towards me, whirring dangerously to life as it came. "Care to add anything that might spare you, fleshy?"

Ironically, just as he said that something behind him caught my attention and I smirked weakly because of it. "Yeah, I do actually...look behind you."

Then, just before he was able to turn around fully, the pressure was released from me with a sudden rush of wind that the rain stung as it slapped against my bare skin. I didn't bother looking back at the fight, I just bolted towards Jazz as he shot at, who I could now identify as Frenzy, as he skittered away from the blasts that singed his silver armour.

Jazz didn't bother looking at me as I passed his legs, skidding to a halt and spinning around to see the full scale of the fight. "You okay?" The saboteur shouted over the volume of the shots and crashes happening not too far away.

"Shaken, but I'll be fine." I said exhaustedly in return before slumping to the ground. The fact that I nearly died _again _sapped me of all of my strength, but I was able to watch the battle conclude not too long after I got comfortable, though it was hard since the ground was soaking and muddy, I was in pain and the rain was making it worse.

Sunny was kicking Barricade's aft, I learned a few swears from being with the twins for too long. When I was finally able to calm myself enough and focus, I watched as the yellow Autobot threw a devastating punch, which caught the 'Con right in the face and caused him to stumble away, clutching the broken faceplates as he went. Jazz found the opportunity to get a few shots of his own, clipping Barricade on the shoulder and chest.

Knowing he was outnumbered, the scout spun with a snarl and transformed, picking up Frenzy before they raced away, leaving the three of us behind. After Jazz and Sunstreaker finally stopped shooting at the escaping 'Con, they turned back to me and put away their weapons.

I was frozen in awe to actually say anything at first, but it was Jazz who beat us to it. "Lets get you home." The silver bot said soothingly and plucked me gently from the ground. He held me close against his chest, which hummed as the systems continued to work.

From behind I briefly saw Sunny. He was scratched, but otherwise he was fine...until I saw his shoulder. The blue glow of the Energon flowed down his left arm and it looked painful. "You're hurt." I said weakly as we got back to the road. Jazz placed me onto the side where his hologram was waiting to help steady me since I didn't realize how weak my legs felt from the shock.

"I'm fine." Sunstreaker deadpanned, obviously pissed at his ruined paint job.

I knew better, I knew he was in pain. "Let me look at it. I may not be Rachet, but I can still do something to stop the pain." I tried to get through to him, but it didn't work. In fact, it made the yellow bot's anger rise.

"I said I'm fine! Are you audio receptors not working or do you continue to be persistent just to annoy me?!" He growled harshly with his narrowed, ice blue optics.

That hurt me that he was thinking that way about me. "I'm only trying to help. You don't have to be such a douche about it." I snarled back at him, though it wasn't effective that much.

Sunstreaker just gave me an extremely cold look before saying, "No one needs or wants you're help, squishy. In fact, you're so useless, you'd be better off terminated." And with that he transformed and sped away without a care, leaving me in tears after that comment.

Just when I thought I was making progress with him, Sunny just goes and shatters me on the inside. I never knew he could be so hateful towards me.

I just stared at the floor as Jazz took me back to the base to be examined by a medic, the broken truck now nothing but a memory in the field.

"He shouldn't be here." I spat suddenly, my eyes still overflowing with grief with what the yellow twin said.

"Huh?" Jazz said in confusion.

"Someone like him shouldn't be on this side. He acts more like a Decepticon than an Autobot." I let my head fall into my left hand which was leaning against the window and stared furiously through the tears out to the landscape.

"You don't mean tha-"

I interrupted him with a low, cold chuckle Showing that I was **not** kidding. "Oh, but I do Jazz. Did you even process what that asshole said to me back there? He said that I should be _dead. _That's something only a Decepticon would say and you know that."

Jazz seemed taken aback by my outburst, his blue eyes wide and staring at me in shock. He let out an exhausted sigh and his hologram turned back to the road as we stopped at the checkpoint. After explaining what had occurred just up the road we were let through and drove to the infirmary in silence. It took about an hour to get the wounds cleaned up and the stitches for my back and my head. The rest were too small so they were just cleaned and bandaged up.

Finally, I could go home and sleep, even though it was only 3:24pm, but after everything that just occurred today, I was shattered. Not just physically either.

I never realized how tired I felt until we pulled up to the front of the building, my vision blurring every so often and my head pounded hard to the point I thought it was going to implode.

Just as I got out of the car Jazz's hand appeared in front of me, his face twisted in sorrow and his eyes filled with sadness. I took his offer and he helped me to the door before I convinced him that I could go on by myself.

"Sides loves you Rachel." Jazz blurted suddenly, nearly causing me to drop the key, which somehow managed to stay in my pocket during the whole being tossed like a rag doll thing.

I spun around to face the mech who looked ashamed as if he wasn't meant to tell me. "Wha?" I'm sure my face looked like a fish just now.

"That's why Sunny hates you so much. Because he feels that you are taking his brother away from him after they were apart for so long."

"But...I, uh...oh God. This is nuts. How do you know?!"

"Simple. Because he told me."

"Oh." Was all I could say as I opened the door to the apartment. "Well, what do I do?"

"Tell him how you feel. It shouldn't be up to Sunny what happens between you two, but he's scared that he's gonna lose his brother again because Sides thinks about you most of the time. Since they're twins, they can feel each other's emotions so it's frustrating for Sunny if all Sides want to do is be around you."

Okay, after that explanation I felt like I was going to be faint.

"Go get some sleep. You'll need it." Jazz gave me a quick smile and his hologram faded out while at the same time the engine to the silver Solstice roared in encouragement.

I mouthed 'thanks' and gave him the two fingered salute before closing the door and leaning against it, panting in exhaustion.

_Damn, I never knew my life was going to be so complicated. _

I headed straight for the medicine cabinet and swallowed two paracetamol tablets before practically collapsing myself on my bed, once I threw my recked clothes in the trash, not caring how much crap was still clinging to my body and embraced the darkness as soon as it came.

I would have a shower in the morning...

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**LITD: Well, once again Sunny is a douche, but he'll get over it in time, even though Laura's trying to put me on a guilt trip by sticking her Sunny figurine in my face, *sweatdrop*. I've kind of tied in his evil, 'I hate humans' atttitude again, though it won't last long...**

**That's all you're getting to know about the next few chapters (obviously not much, but I'm a bitch that way ;) But soon a ton of shit _will_ hit the fan, though that'll be in later chapters...**

**But hopefully the chase scene and stuff was good, right? Please review and tell me guys so I can know if I did anything wrong. School quite intense right now since exams are coming up soon, but I'll try my best to update ASAP.**

**Till next time!**


	9. Confrontation

**LITD: OMG! Guys, I give you all permission to kill me on sight for I have broken my promise to update ASAP. For that I'm, you guessed it, sorry, but I have a number of reasons for the lateness. First of all, I was hit with a lot of force by a stupid writer's block for quite a while. Also, studying has taken up most of my time and is top priority at the moment since I have exams during the next month. Writing will only happen when I'm done studying for the day. Apologies guys.**

**Well, seeing as I have finally updated, I would like to thank EclipticNight****, ****2GrayBoys, MixChick, tammy-is-a-turtle and Saphireblu987, it's you guys that help get me motivated. Love you all! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: ...I have nothing! *sniff***

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Confrontation**

I couldn't believe that I had slept throughout the night even though I was a walking mud ball and it was only about four in the afternoon when I collapsed onto the bed.

A groan escaped my mouth as I flopped over onto the left side of the mattress to glance at the clock.

_9:56 am._

Oh...I did sleep along time, didn't I?

With a tired sigh I trudged to the bathroom, tearing my trashed clothes off as I went leaving a trail from my room.

_Urgh, I'm gonna have to wash the bed covers...AND I have no coffee to boot! Stupid Barricade. I hope someone sticks a tree up his aft..._

"God, I've been around Ratchet too much." I chuckled to myself as I stepped into the cascading watery goodness. Almost immediately I felt refreshed, the water trickling down my battered body in a soft, soothing manner. In fact, the shower was so nice I was in it for about forty minutes, which is a long time for me.

Ahhh, squeaky clean.

With a fresh pair of jean shorts and a red tank top, I jogged to the kitchen in hopes to slurp a big, fat mouthful of _coffee_. That is until I remembered that I didn't have any. _Barricade, go rust in a hole...a very deep one. Ass._

Damn, this is so...hold the phone.

I snatched up a yellow note sitting on the kitchen table and read it frantically as the frustration settled in.

_Rach,_

_I managed to get some of the things that you lost from the truck. As you could tell, you truck is glitched to the Pit so we might have to sort that out later. Also, if you look around your kitchen, I picked up some stuff from the store since Barricade squished it all. I'll be round later, but you know, busy life as usual._

_Jazz xxx_

My eyes shot to the coffee jar and, oh my God, it was _full_...and there was a refill pack next to it.

"Jazz, I love you babe." I giggled as the kettle snapped once the button was pressed.

Finally, after such an agonisingly long time apart, the hot, tasty goodness entered my mouth and I sank into the sofa before turning on the TV.

"_...it happened yesterday around midday when two armed men entered the store and shot anyone in their sight, including a three year old boy, before fleeing the scene with more than a thousand dollars. Police ensure that they are doing everythi-"_

I changed the channel, disgusted by what I had just heard. _How the hell could they just kill a three year without so much as flinching? Urgh, sometimes I hate this world._

The only thing that remotely caught my attention was the weather channel and that was due to the fact that I wanted to go out for a run. Eating all that crap was coming back with a vengeance i.e need exercise!

I know coffee doesn't help getting fit, but you gotta get your energy from somewhere, right?

I froze as I felt the usual weird tug that indicates that Sideswipe is trying to talk to me. After what Jazz told me yesterday I wasn't really wanting to talk to Sides because, well, what could I say?

With a loud huff I quickly finished the rest of the coffee and threw on some training clothes to go out for a run.

It felt nice to go out running when it is a hot day along with a cool breeze and music pumping into my ears, driving me up the path to the beat of the songs. As I went I saw a lot of people that I only knew by name as they were from Jack's squadron or were one of his friends. Some waved, some didn't, but since I was huffing up the path I didn't mind.

It was just after the forty-five minute mark when I stopped to take a swig from the water bottle a horn from behind startled me and I spun to see Jazz cruising to a stop beside me. His hologram snapped to life at the driver's side and he walked round to me.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, still gasping slightly from the exercise, but I caught the serious facial expression my mood sobered to match his seriousness. "What's up?"

"You haven't talked to Sides yet, have you?" Jazz asked simply.

"No. Well, what do you expect me to say to him? _Buckle up son, were too different to have a relationship so go away_. I just don't feel that way towards him." I let out a long exhale to emphasise my frustration.

A hand pressed gently down on my shoulder. "For starters, you need to talk to him since he thinks he's done something to piss him off anyway. Gotta remember you can't keep runnin' away from things like this or else it'll just come back to bite you in the aft."

I chuckled at that last comment though it didn't change the fact that he was right. "Okay, right. Erm..." I surveyed the neighbourhood we were currently in with a very confused expression. "Could you give me a ride back 'cause I don't have a frickin' clue where I am."

To say the least I was very nervous when I got back to the apartment. I even had the quickest shower known to mankind because of it. Once I put on the clothes from before the run back on I sat on my bed, let out a soft, controlled sigh and took away the mental barrier that blocked Sideswipe from my mind though I decided that speaking aloud would help me along with the conversation.

"Sides, you there?"

_Rachel? I thought I really had done something for you to block me like that._

"Well, it was kinda about something Jazz told me that you said the day before you left."

_...Go on._

My heart felt like it was about burst because it was beating so hard against my chest. "...Do you really love me?"

…

…

"...Sides?"

_Oh no. _

"What?_"_

_I feel like an absolute glitchhead now. I had a little bit too much high grade that night so I would've been acting like a tube for most of the night. Apparently I tried to kiss Jazz and Ironhide...Not a proud moment._

After hearing that I cried with laughter when I tried to picture that event. "Damn...I wish...I was there!" I said between gasps, wiping the tears from my eyes as I said it. Though once I eventually calmed down I got back to business.

"So, the conclusion of this complete misunderstanding is that Jazz overreacted which made me overreact to something that wasn't even true...did I miss anything?"

_Well, I consider you as a sibling if that helps._

"Aww, same here." It was great that we were back to being good friends despite the fact that he has a really pissed off brother at the moment. "Now that's in the past, did ya kick ass?"

_I'll tell the whole story when I get back. There's a meeting that's about to start and unfortunately I have to attend it._

"Okay dokie. Have fun!" I chirped just to rub it in his face.

Then it was silent again, too silent to the point where I felt uncomfortable and had to go back in to the living and switch to TV on.

Not the news though, how about Cartoon Network?

* * *

The laughter was almost unbearable for Barricade as he limped past Ramjet and Skywarp, growling curses which fell on offlined audio receptors. While Frenzy ran around chattering to the pair about the whole event that caused their injuries, the Saleen just strolled by leaving them in his wake.

The report he was about to give to Soundwave, he thought, was very interesting. Even as he looked through it Barricade knew that this could lead to a turning point in the war...if his assumption was correct.

The door slid open with a hiss and he walked into Soundwave's quarters. It wasn't big despite the size of the mech, but since Soundwave was...well, Soundwave, he didn't complain about it. Barricade found the Communications Officer was at his terminal talking to someone, but because of the size difference Barricade couldn't see who it was.

Suddenly, the terminal flick offline and Soundwave turned to face his fellow Decepticon. Emotionless as ever, he spoke. "Report. Repairs required to your frame." If Soundwave could show emotions then Barricade could swear that he would smirk at his battered frame.

However, this didn't let the Scout forget why he was there as he reached to the back of his helm and retrieved a small chip. "I believe that this will interest you." Barricade said simply as he handed the tiny object to his superior.

Without another word Soundwave went back to the terminal and scanned through the data that the chip held and, despite the Communications Officer's trademark emotionless attitude, Barricade could tell that the data that he collected caught Soundwave's interest because it was something that neither of them had seen in quite a while.

"Believe it or not, that was from a human child. The only problem is that she has become associated with those damn _Autobots." _The Saleen spat, the memory of his beat down still fresh on his CPU.

Oblivious to the fact, Soundwave seemed unfazed (duh!). "No matter. Child must be brought here. Doctor needs to examine it. Allspark possible too great to ignore."

"Did somevon say my name?" A small, spider looking bot crawled swiftly from the door, it's eight legs tapped against the ground as it raced up to the mechs. It scattered in front of the terminal and stared into the screen. "Hmmm, I vill need this specimen to confirm these findings." The minibot continued to rattle on in excitement about the possibility of a new experiment while the to two large mechs just turned to each other.

Barricade was the one who spoke first. "So when do we move?"

It was simple question that had so many connotations, but this time it was the worst one possible. "Soon, once information has been gathered. Then we strike."

* * *

"Rachel."

"..." _Sleeeeepyyyyy..._

"Rach?"

"...mua?"

"RACHEL!"

"Jesus! AHH!" Yep, you guessed it. I got such a fright that I fell out of my bed. Rubbing the sore spot where I landed, I gazed up to see Jazz staring smugly down at me.

"Hello down there." He chirped and offered me a hand.

"Screw your face." I growled though I accepted his offer and he lifted me back to my feet. I glanced at my clock beside my bed and grimaced. "8:34. Are you kidding me, Jazz? I'm a teenager. I'm suppose to be nocturnal!"

"Hence why I'm here. I know you could sleep for a month no problem if you had the chance."

"Oh, how you hurt me so." I said in an overdramatic fashion, almost like how you would hear it in a play. "So why did you wake me up at an ungodly time?"

Jazz smiled. "We have to get everything ready."

"For what."

"Beach barbecue for the guys when they get home."

I had two words for that plan. _Freakin' awesome!_

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LITD: I have to say sorry because you guys waited for a long time and to be honest I was quite disappointed with this chapter because it was quite rushed and it is short compared to the others despite the amount of time I've had to do this, but like I said at the top, I'm busy as hell with studying for the exams so writing won't be my top priority though I'll try my best to squeeze some in. I hope you'll all understand since you guys have been awesome so far. *Hugs everyone in sight***

**Well guys, I hope you review, thanks and wish me luck 'cause I'll need it. Till next time. **


	10. Beach Party

**LITD:** **HOLY EFFING BANANAS! I updated!...*Notices angry glares from readers*...O_O' I'm sooooo sorry, but I do actually have a excuse for once. It all starts off from the author's note from the last chapter that did actually state about that fact that I had exams shortly after I had updated last time. They finished mid-June. I know I should have updated quicker than this, but this is also due to the fact that I had a major writer's block leading up to the start of July then I went to Japan for 16 days...and that is my life story up until now...**

**Is it just me or is Transformers: War for Cybertron fricking awesome! XD**

**Now, let's get onto the important stuff.**

**I would like to thank the following for reviewing the last chapter (I'm going to comment on each one from now on):**

**teddy – Thanks for the feedback! :) I hope you'll enjoy the rest of it and hopefully I won't be so late in the future.**

**Standout4Christ – To be honest, I have the same thing going on with my big brother too, but I guess that's just the brother's role in the family. They annoy the hell outta you, but they're loving at the same time...anyhoo, thanks for the review and I'm so sorry for being so late.**

**Saphireblu987 – Thanks for understanding and I really appreciate your review! I'm just really sorry for being late. I hope your exams went well too.**

**Kaelyn the Hedgehog – Writer's block suck, simple as. I'm sorry for being so late, but I guess sometimes you can't help it. I hope you enjoyed Johnny Carino's (despite the fact that was a while ago now). Italian food for the win!**

**2GrayBoys – Thanks for being patient with my slow, annoying self, but now I'm back. I'm sorry for being late and hopefully it won't happen again.**

**EclipticNight – I liked your phrase at the end of your review, but unfortunately it is true. Life/exams suck, but now that they've passed I can focus on this a lot more (Yay!). Thanks for reviewing and, once again, I'm so sorry for being late.**

**To sum everything up, I am really sooooo very extremely sorry for updating late (again) and I'm hoping that this will be the last time. Now we can finally start... O.o**

**Just want to say R.I.P Paul Gray, bassist for Slipknot, who died May 24th so there is a Slipknot song in this as a small tribute to Paul and the ones he left behind. Why are so many musicians dying this year?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or Slipknot...T_T**

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Beach Party**

Ok, so at the time of being overly excited about the whole beach thing I never realised how hard it was to actually plan an event like this, especially since most of the supplies needed we (consisting of me, Jazz, Sam, Mikaela, Bumblebee and any random that just happened to be off duty at the time) had to get by ourselves...oh well. Got more than enough money, but by the way that things are going I'm going to run dry pretty soon.

Money problems aside, once we gathered enough supplies that could feed a whole army (that was the idea anyway) it was set out on benches that were spread out on the sand located next to the base so that anyone who was off duty could just come over and have what they want. It was just a way to relax for everyone and, in a way, helped me to sort out my organisation skills since Jazz kept disappearing to do his duties of being in charge while Big Bossman was away.

When we finally finished with a few hours to spare, I stood back and surveyed our work. It wasn't anything fancy, but I thought it looked great. Food had been laid out evenly between the tables and banners swayed smoothly with the light breeze. Sounds cheesy, I know, but its the thought that counts.

"Jazz!" I shouted over to the mech's holoform who was leaning against a lone tree that sat next to his bypedal mode.

He looked over to me. "Yo, what's up Rach?"

"What time is my brother's team arriving?"

"6:20pm I think."

I exhaled in frustration at the answer. _Sides? ETA?_

_Just after 6pm. We're not too far out._

That's good. Since it was 4:12 it gave me enough time to get ready. _Why?_

I let out a smile as I began to stroll towards my apartment. "Just need to make myself presentable for the party." My reply made him send my a confused feeling. "It's a girl thing." I added and continued my walk down the street, humming random songs as I went.

For a girl, getting ready for a party is a vigorous task especially for one like myself who hasn't attended an event like this for a long time. It may be informal, but the majority of the female population still see it as a way to show themselves off...great, now I'm portraying myself to be a slut...

Anyway, it was exactly an hour and a half later when I finally emerged from the building. My face had a light tint of make-up while I had ditched the tom-boy look, for once, for a sky blue dress that stopped at my knees with frilly bit hanging off the end. My hair had been changed from it's plain, straight style into wavy strands that bounced as I walked down the path towards the beach. Since i'm the type of person that never leaves the house without their Ipod, I had, believe it or not, Slipknot blaring into my ears, singing along to one of my personal favourites, Duality.

_I push my fingers into my eyes_

_It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache_

_But its made of all the things I have to take_

_Jesus it never ends, it works it's way inside_

_If the pain goes on..._

Unfortunately, the walk wasn't long enough to finish the whole song as I entered the area where the part was being held. Sand shifted as I wandered over to the middle table where Jazz and Bee were having an active conversation.

I had finally got up to them when the two were laughing like wild hyenas.

Their bellows were quite amusing that, despite the fact I didn't know what they were talking about, I found myself chuckling along with them. "Did I miss something?"

"Nah." Jazz said once his voice lowered enough to reply. "We're just remembering one of the good old days." He ended with a mournful sigh and both of the mechs' eyes fell, their moods suddenly dropping with them.

_Talking about the past is not the best thing right now. _Sides suddenly said sombrely, startling me.

After a few moments of an uncomfortable silence, Sides added, this time more characteristically, _Better get ready. We'll be there in about five minutes._

I smiled and relayed that to Bee and Jazz who smirked back before going off to do any finishing touches.

Jazz grinned and jogged over to the table that held the sound system. Can't have a party without the music, right? Bee, on the other hand, quickly scanned ground each table to make sure everything was perfect.

Our soldiers deserve nothing but perfection, especially for what they do for us. (A/N This is damn true. Our soldiers deserve to be treated like kings for protecting us in such hostel parts of the world.)

True to his word, vehicles and soldiers alike arrived five minute later as did the family and friends of the men and women who could make it. Then I saw Jack laughing at something Rob had said, his big grin was making me smile with him.

I couldn't stop myself from running up to my brother and almost spearing him to the ground as I hugged him tightly.

It startled him to say the least. "Whoa! Where's the fire?" He exclaimed and returned the hug, rubbing my back in a soothing way...the same way Dad used to.

Everyone said that they were alike...

"You were away too long." I mumbled and pouted at him.

Suddenly, Rob Epps, being the jolly kind of guy that he is, wrapped an arm around Jack's neck. "Aw, come on Rach. You're killing him 'ere. And anyway, where's my hug?" He said like a child. _Just typical Epps. _I laughed and gave him a hug so that he would stop complaining.

After the greetings were finished, everyone gathered around their own table and began to eat their way through the food that was out. Beers were chugged together and laughter was constantly heard along with the music.

_This is how it should be like. _I let out a long exhale and I focused on my Coke in my hand. However, it wasn't long until my thoughts were interrupted. A hand was placed on my shoulder and I looked to see Sideswipe gazing down at me with sad eyes.

"Not to dampen the mood, but we have to keep it in our processors that there is a war going on and unfortunately it won't stay like this." Sometimes I would forget about bond we shared and there would be times where I saw it as an invasion of privacy. Though, in the end I told myself to butt up and shut up because there was nothing I could do about it apart from accept the fact.

"Yeah, but still. I wish things could stay as cheerful as this." I said, gesturing to the party in front of us. We were at the table at the back of the cluster so it was easy to see the proceedings around us. The rest Autobots had gathered at the car park, naturally, and were discussing about things that I know I wouldn't understand. Though I just happened to notice that the moody can of mustard wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Where's your brother?" I asked, but in a monotone voice to show that I wasn't exactly concerned about him. It was more of my curiosity that forced me to ask.

Sides rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "I spoke with him about what happened while the rest of us were away. He's an aft, but never usually like this."

"Joy. I must be that annoying to be around these days."

His hands grabbed my shoulders, which forced me to look up at the mech, his eyes seemed more serious than I think I've ever them and this was Sideswipe, one of the least serious mechs you could ever meet. "No, don't be like that." Sides said firmly. "In a way, frustration is Sunny's way of showing his concern."

Despite his effort, it just didn't do it for me, not after the things Sunstreaker said to me. "Sides, he said that I would be better off dead. I really don't think he's concerned about me." I deadpanned as I remembered the hatred in his voice. There was definitely no concern to be heard there.

It surprised me when Sides' holoform began to chuckle. "Trust me. I've been around him all of my life. He's concerned, you've just got to give him a chance."

"That's the thing. I've given Sunny plenty of chances and he still practically spits in my face." It was true when you thought about. I would try to be nice to him and all that walking piece of scrap metal would is turn his back on me...damn, I've been around Ratchet too long.

"Yep, being around the Hatchet will do that to ya." Sides smirked at me, lifting the mood quite a bit. "Speaking of the mech, I need to talk to him about stuff."

"About what?"

"Heh, my elbow joint hasn't been as functional as usual. It's been annoying the frag outta me for a while, but while we were on this mission it got quite bad. I'll be back later." He answered while walking towards the car park and gave me a two fingered salute before turning away from me.

I watched him for a while, but I was so focused on him that I didn't notice someone sneak up behind me.

_If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest part of me._

_Oooooooooooo, baby please don't go._

My eyes widened when I realised who it was and I could feel my cheek flare up. "Bee!" I squealed in surprise as I spun around to find him laughing to the point where tears were about streaming down his face. I pushed him off of the bench and he fell to the floor, but all that did was put more oil into the flame. His laughing increased, which in turn was making me laugh along with him.

At this point, I was relishing in the fact that laughing is indeed infectious.

The next hour wasn't that eventful, but it wasn't boring either. It mainly consisted of talking about funny events and dancing along to whatever music came on. We were treated, eh hem, to Epps and a few others _trying _to sing along to a number of songs, the majority being ones that were covered quite badly that people were either laughing or singing along with them...I suspect it was to drown out their severely out of tune voices. It was still a good laugh though.

After the karaoke section was over everything returned to calmer state and I decided to watch the sunset on the bench closest to the sea. It was beautiful and that an understatement.

So tranquil...

Unfortunately, I couldn't admire the hot red sky for long as someone slumped down next to me, shaking the bench with their added weight. Jack said nothing for a while, he just sat there staring out to the ocean as I had been doing for the duration of me sitting where I was, the only sound came from the water brushing up against the sand every so often.

"Rach, can I see your Ipod for a minute?" Jack asked suddenly.

I looked at him suspiciously as my mini alarm bells in my mind were ringing. "Okay." I said slowly with narrowed eyes, handing over my prized possession to my brother.

I knew it was a trap for something.

Two people grabbed me from behind, whooping and laughing as they lifted me. Above my screams I could hear Jack giggling like a girl in the background as I found that Epps and Bee had been the ones kidnap me. Then my eyes darted forward to watch as the ocean got closer and closer.

I guess you can tell what happens next.

With one fling, the boys threw me into the water.

...It was damn cold!

My head emerged from the surface almost immediately after I had entered the body of water. It took a while from my brain to really react to what had just happened to me as I sat there while the boys and anyone who was watching laughed on. To be honest, I started to laugh too, but then I stood up slowly and turned to the closest guy to me. I dashed at Rob and used my body weight to spear him into the water.

"Now I'm not the only one whose wet!" I shouted victoriously as we sat back up.

"COLD!" The soldier squealed.

"Pussy." I smiled sweetly at him when he gave me a glare and jumped up threateningly before advancing on me. I ran from him back onto the beach towards Jack, who was still practically peeing himself with laughter.

When I got behind him I yelled, "Be a good big brother and protect me!" and pushed him into Rob before running away again though this time towards the party.

Now I had two wet boys after me...Please no dirty minds :P

Running through the middle of party while soaking wet while screaming your head off will turn a majority of the heads there, but I never stopped as I ran towards the car park, my shoes squeaked with every bound.

I found Sides grinning like the Cheshire cat, but by now I was used to it. I got behind the red Lamborghini and scanned the area for my pursuers.

"Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpme." I gasped as I tried to catch my breath.

All Sides' holoform did was raise an eyebrow at me, but what worried me was the fact that he had kept his grin on. "And why should I help you?"

"Isn't that your job?" I asked, realising that this wasn't going to go anywhere since the retard was playing dumb.

"Now, since you called me a retard, I'm definitely not going to help you. Besides, its my day off." And with that said, Sides' holoform snapped from existence and my cover decided to rev incredibly loudly, the horn went off and then the car drove away, leaving me looking on stunned.

"You BASTARD!" I shrieked after him, not noticing that Ratchet and a few other Autobots were watching the whole thing play out.

"What was that, young lady?" Ratchet scolded.

I spun at him with wide eyes, my breath still not fully recovered. "Aw, come on Ratchet. You saw what happened."

"That doesn't mean you can use foul language in retaliation."

"That's rich coming from you-AH!" I didn't get the chance to hear the medic's reply to that as once again I had been plucked up by Jack and Rob who were both making evil laughs.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold. Back in the sea you go!" Jack cheered as they continued to carry me kicking and screaming back down to the water.

In my head I could hear Sides snickering at my misfortune. _Traitor!_ That just sent the red twin into hysterics.

"FML!"

Well, today was certainly eventful...and it went swimmingly. I guess that's putting it lightly.

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**LITD: Well, I know it isn't the best chapter for the amount of time you guys had to wait, but I hope you never thought it was that bad. You probably noticed that they was no Decepticon activity in this chapter since it was more of a heartwarming one, but the next chapter will hold a major twist in it and will definitely have Decepticons in it. Its a major plot-setting chapter so stick around for it.**

**Please review guys, it shows that people still read this story and will drive me to write quickly. Also, I hope you're all having an awesome Summer! :D Till next time!**


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